transcranial magnetic stimulation

To Boost Learning, Timing May Be Everything

New Strategy Could Enhance Benefits of Therapeutic Brain Stimulation

person holding a stopwatch

Electricity can do crazy things to the brain. While it can’t bring back the dead à la Frankenstein or give you new memories like in Total Recall, many scientists believe electrical stimulation could one day help patients with movement or memory problems regain those capabilities. New IRP research bolsters this idea by showing that a brain stimulation technology called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) significantly boosts motor skill learning when precisely administered during specific periods of brain activity.

Inside NIH’s Research Festival

As I trekked along the manicured sidewalk of Convent Drive, heading toward Building 10, I felt the now-familiar weight of the poster tube hanging over my shoulder. Inside that poster tube was, as the name implies, a scientific poster with which I was extremely familiar. My calves burned underneath the intensity of my power walk, as I remained calm and ready to present my project about mice undergoing anesthesia.

Lucy Bauer interviews Dr. Brenda Klaunberg of NIH Mouse Imaging Facility at ResearchFest