{"id":6434,"date":"2016-03-24T07:26:10","date_gmt":"2016-03-24T07:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kurzweilai.net\/?p=276644"},"modified":"2016-03-25T08:21:52","modified_gmt":"2016-03-25T08:21:52","slug":"darpas-targeted-neuroplasticity-training-program-aims-to-accelerate-learning-beyond-normal-levels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/2016\/03\/24\/darpas-targeted-neuroplasticity-training-program-aims-to-accelerate-learning-beyond-normal-levels\/","title":{"rendered":"DARPA’s ‘Targeted Neuroplasticity Training’ program aims to accelerate learning ‘beyond normal levels’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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New DARPA “TNT” technology will be designed to safely and precisely modulate peripheral nerves to control synaptic plasticity during cognitive skill training. (No mention of NZT.) (credit: DARPA)<\/p><\/div>\n

DARPA has announced a new program called Targeted Neuroplasticity Training (TNT) aimed at exploring how to use peripheral nerve stimulation and other methods to enhance learning.<\/p>\n

DARPA already has research programs underway to use targeted stimulation of the peripheral nervous system as a substitute for drugs to treat diseases and accelerate healing<\/a>*, to control advanced prosthetic limbs<\/a>**, and to restore tactile sensation.<\/p>\n

But now DARPA plans to to take an even more ambitious step: It aims to enlist the body\u2019s peripheral nerves to achieve something that has long been considered the brain\u2019s domain alone: facilitating learning — specifically, training in a wide range of cognitive skills.<\/p>\n

The goal is to reduce the cost and duration of the Defense Department\u2019s extensive training regimen, while improving outcomes. If successful, TNT could accelerate learning and reduce the time needed to train foreign language specialists, intelligence analysts, cryptographers, and others.<\/p>\n

“Many of these skills, such as understanding and speaking a new foreign language, can be challenging to learn,” says the DARPA statement. “Current training programs are time consuming, require intensive study, and usually require evidence of a more-than-minimal aptitude for eligibility. Thus, improving cognitive skill learning in healthy adults is of great interest to our national security.”<\/p>\n

Going beyond<\/em> normal levels of learning<\/strong><\/p>\n

The program is also notable because it will not just train; it will advance capabilities beyond<\/em> normal levels — a transhumanist approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecent research has shown that stimulation of certain peripheral nerves, easily and painlessly achieved through the skin, can activate regions of the brain involved with learning,\u201d by releasing neurochemicals in the brain that reorganize neural connections in response to specific experiences, explained TNT Program Manager\u00a0Doug Weber<\/a>,<\/p>\n

\u201cThis natural process of synaptic plasticity is pivotal for learning, but much is unknown about the physiological mechanisms that link peripheral nerve stimulation to improved plasticity and learning,\u201d Weber said. \u201cYou can think of peripheral nerve stimulation as a way to reopen the so-called \u2018Critical Period\u2019 when the brain is more facile and adaptive. TNT technology will be designed to safely and precisely modulate peripheral nerves to control plasticity at optimal points in the learning process.\u201d<\/p>\n

The goal is to optimize training protocols that expedite the pace of learning and maximize long-term retention of even the most complicated cognitive skills. DARPA intends to take a layered approach to exploring this new terrain:<\/p>\n