Would you ever consider wearing a thinking cap?

You remember the expression: “Put your thinking cap on.” Well, soon, you’ll be able to do just that.  I’m not kidding. The technology exists (and is being used today by rthe government) to connect electrodes to our brain to make us smarter.  Would you consider it? 

Writing for the New Scientist, technology feature editor Sally Adee recently did just that – she elected the electrodes and her report is both favorable and fascinating (read her scintillating account at http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328501.600-zap-your-brain-into-the-zone-fast-track-to-pure-focus.html). And if, after reading Adee’s report, you’re still a touch reluctant to zap your brain, well then, consider doning a doctor’s lab coat instead.  Because wearing one will also make you smarter. 

Let’s start with the lab coat, then back to the thinking cap. 

In a study published earlier this year out of Northwestern University, researchers Hajo Adam and Adam Galinsky found that study participants performed better when they wore a doctor’s lab coat. Adam and Galinsky call it “enclothed cognition” and posit that a person’s psychological processes are affected by the clothing that we wear.  They found that clothing does indeed make the wo/man . . . or at least influences her/him.  And it’s not just the physical clothing, it’s the symbolic meaning as well. 

Adam and Galinsky began with a pre-test which confirmed that a lab coat is generally associated with attentiveness and carefulness.  “We therefore predicted that wearing a lab coat would increase performance on attention-related tasks,” they explained. Three experiments were conducted, yielding two key findings: 
1. Physically wearing a lab coat increased selective attention, compared to not wearing a lab coat; and
2. Performance increased if you knew that the lab coat was that of a doctor’s, as opposed to a painter’s. 

No big surprises here, that enclothed cognition, as the authors call it, “. . . depends on both the symbolic meaning and the physical experience of wearing the clothes.” 
Now back to the thinking cap (and by the way, if you’re interested, you can purchase thinking caps online, in almost any color . . . I’m thinking of buying a blue one, to match my eyes, but for some reason I think orange might be the smarter choice). 

First, the reality.  The technology exists, and writer Cory Doctorow (who has tried it) said last month that while “we don’t yet have a commercial available thinking cap . . . we will soon.”  As both Doctorow and Adee report, the technology currently is being used in the defense community, and Doctorow describes it as “targeted electrical stimulation of the brain during training exercises to induce ‘flow states’ and enhance learning.”  

Second, the ethics.  Doctorow cited two groups which recently raised deep concerns about the ethics of brain boosting (a group of Oxford University neuroscientists and a report from the UK’s Royal Society).  Their concerns, said Doctorow, lead many to wonder: “Is brain boosting a fair addition to the cognitive enhancement arms race? Will it create a Morlock/Eloi-like social divide where the rich can afford to be smarter and leave everyone else behind? Will Tiger Moms force their lazy kids to strap on a zappity helmet during piano practice?” 

So . . . what was it like, strapping on those electrodes?

For his part, Doctorow* raved about the experience, saying : “I only remember feeling like I had just had an excellent cup of coffee, but without the caffeine jitters. I felt clear-headed and like myself, just sharper. Calmer. Without fear and without doubt. From there on, I just spent the time waiting for a problem to appear so that I could solve it.”

For her part, Adee finds the subject, and the experience, highly memorable. 
Adee, on the future: “The plan is to provide a short cut to virtuosity, slashing the amount of time it takes to master a new skill - be it tennis, playing the piano or marksmanship.”  (Adee points out that, according to Anders Ericsson at Florida State University in Tallahassee, it normally takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert in any discipline.)

Adee, on the hook-up: “I'm now allowing Michael Weisend, who works at the Mind Research Network in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to hook my brain up to what's essentially a 9-volt battery. He sticks the anode - the positive pole of the battery - to my temple, and the cathode to my left arm. ‘You're going to feel a slight tingle,' he says, and warns me that if I remove an electrode and break the connection, the voltage passing through my brain will blind me for a good few seconds.’ ”

And how does it feel? Weisend told Adee: “The number one thing I hear people say after tDCS, is that time passed unduly fast.” Adee adds that their movements also seem to become more automatic; they report calm, focused concentration - and their performance improves immediately.

*Cory Doctorow is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who is co-editor of the weblog Boing Boing.