Scientists turbocharge monkey brains with neural implants

According to a report published by io9, a group of US researchers has been able to improve the brain performance of some primates through the use of neural implants.

According to the publication, during the experiments scientists monitored the brain activity of five monkeys while they performed some monitored activities - such as observing an image and then selecting it from a set of figures after a short time - analyzing electrical signals. sent when the animals selected the correct images.

Super brain

The researchers then programmed the neural implant with these same electrical signals, noting that primate performance was actually better than normal and even after drugging the animals - with the goal of reducing performance during imaging testing -, the animals performed higher than normal.

The next step is to conduct human experiments, and researchers hope they can develop devices to help those with conditions like dementia or degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's. Also, if the procedure proves to be safe, maybe scientists won't develop an implant that can turn the brains of healthy humans into supermachines?

Source: io9