Can noise make you smarter?
Woman with electrodes attached to her head. Representative Photo: Getty Images
The market is filled with noise-cancelling headphones. Everyone wants to cancel the noise around them to help them focus better. Some people rely on background music, study playlist etc while trying to complete a task like reading or writing. Then there are some who resort to white noise or the current trend of brown noise, to help them sleep, focus etc.
i need over the ear headphones total noise cancellation is the only thing that will make me focus and study
— jude🇵🇸🇮🇶 (@strwberrybrain) August 31, 2022
But this research says that noise can actually help expand your learning potential.
What are we talking about?
A study, 'Using noise for the better: The effects of transcranial random noise stimulation on the brain and behaviour', published in the journal Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews argues that noise can play an important role in helping people with learning disabilities to improve their ability.
Can 'random noise' unlock our learning potential?
— Edith Cowan University (ECU) (@EdithCowanUni) September 5, 2022
ECU researchers led by @OnnovdGroen are investigating how an emerging technology may help those with learning difficulties and other neurological conditions. https://t.co/KEoGTIPeyb pic.twitter.com/hvGRx7vs2j
It is not the noise you are thinking of…
The 'NOISE' that the researchers are talking about isn't exactly what we understand in traditional terms. Instead, it is a noise stimulation technology already developed which can have surprising effects.
How does it work?
The technology called, transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS), was used to send weak current through specific parts of the brain using electrodes.
"The effect on learning is promising: it can speed up learning and help people with neurological conditions," study leader Dr Onno van der Groen of Edith Cowan University, Australia, said in a press release.
"When you add this type of stimulation during learning, you get better performance, faster learning and better attention afterwards as well," he says.
The experiment was conducted on people with visual deficits which usually occur following a traumatic brain injury or a stroke. The researchers first tried the technology on a control group with a visual deficit. They were asked to return and were given a visual perception task to do without the technology. It was found that the control group performed better than the last time.
At the same time, their performance was compared with another control group who hadn't used the technology. And once again, those who used the tRNS tech performed better.
Can this technology be used on average people?
Edith Cowan University researchers tried the tRNS technology on people with learning disabilities. But can the same be used on an average person to make them smarter? Like in the 2011 movie, Limitless, the protagonist takes a drug to make him smarter and tries his hand in the stock market.
Dr van der Groen says "the potential is there, but there are also signs it won't create a 'new level' of intelligence".
He said that researchers once tried to improve the skills of a "super mathematician" but it did not help him much, maybe because the mathematician was already performing his best.
"But it could be used if you're learning something new," Dr van der Groen says.
If this is proven true, learning languages would become so much easier. Just the skill of a new language is enough to open up a plethora of new ideas and opportunities.
Noise and focus:
Noise and focus are like oil and water, they are known for not getting along. In fact, a recent study in Barcelona, Spain, revealed that traffic noise near schools impacts the development of children's working memory badly.
However, Edith Cowan University's researchers show that controlled use of noise stimulating technology tRNS can have surprising applications and results. The tech, which is still in its infancy, is usually used to study the brain and for pain relief.