Ultrasound may Help Improve Brain Function: Study

When you think of the word ultrasound, the first thing that comes to mind is probably pregnancy. Yet a recent study involving the enhancement of brain power might change your mind.

You see, according to researchers from Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, they found that when ultrasounds were placed directly on top of specific brain areas, they actually had the power to improve an individual's cognitive functioning--particularly when it comes to distinguishing between two sensory inputs.

Researchers focused on the cerebral cortex of the brain-an area that's responsible for such higher functioning as sensation, voluntary muscle movement, thought, reasoning and memory. They stimulated this region by placing one small electrode on the wrist of study participants. With this, they were able to stimulate the median nerve that passes through the carpel tunnel and runs along the arm. During, they measured and recorded brain activity using an EEg.

The team discovered that when the ultrasound was placed on top of the cerebral cortex region, the machine was able to reduce the EEG signal and lower the brain's activity that's in charge of encoding stimulation that comes from the hands. Researchers then carried out two neurological tests: One that measured the participants' ability to discriminate between two nearby objects that were touching the skin at different points, and the other, which measured the participants sensitivity to air puffs.

Findings showed that the ultrasound helped to improve the participants ability to identify study clues.

"We can use ultrasound to target an area of the brain as small as the size of an M&M," study researcher William Tyler, a neuroscientist at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, said, via a press release. "This finding represents a new way of noninvasively modulating human brain activity with a better spatial resolution than anything currently available."

He added that, "Our observations surprised us. Even though the brain waves associated with the tactile stimulation had weakened, people actually got better at detecting differences in sensations."

More information regarding the study can be found via the journal Nature Neuroscience.