Remember The Matrix? Now get ready to ‘upload’ knowledge to your brain!

Remember that iconic scene in the original Matrix movie where Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, was ‘taught’ Kung-Fu skills by uploading it directly onto his brain?

And now, it seems real life is imitating art.

Some researchers from HRL Laboratories claim they have developed a simulator that can feed information directly into a person’s brain and teach them new skills in a shorter amount of time.

And they claim it is a definite first step towards developing software capable of making Matrix-style learning a reality.

The California-based lab claims to have found a way to do this, albeit on a much smaller scale. But who knows, it could be the precursor of bigger things to come.

So how exactly did they achieve it and how did they know they succeeded?

Dr Matthew Phillips and his team, from HRL’s Information & System Sciences Laboratory, used transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to improve learning and skill retention.

“We measured the brain activity patterns of six commercial and military pilots, and then transmitted these patterns into novice subjects as they learned to pilot an airplane in a realistic flight simulator,” he said.

The study, published in the February, 2016 issue of the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, found that subjects who received brain stimulation via electrode-embedded head caps improved their piloting abilities by up to 33 per cent.

“We measured the average G-force of the plane during the simulated landing and compared it to control subjects who received a mock brain stimulation,” he said.

So does this mean goodbye to boring classes, tests and exams in school? In the not so distant future, the prayers of millions of children could finally be answered.

Courtesy: hrl.com