Feel like learning how to speak French or how to play chess? Instead of cramming the knowledge into your brain, you may be able to “download” it before long. Scientists believe that in the future acquiring a skill might involve simply plugging your brain into a computer directly.
Theoretically, with the help of a functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) machine, scientists can install knowledge into the cerebral cortex of a human brain by changing the brain activity pattern. For example, if a person desires to learn kung fu, the brain activity pattern of that person will be modified to that of a kung fu master. There is no need for medication at all and the person could even be sleeping throughout the process.
Researchers find early success in this technique because the FMRI volunteers undergoing visual skill tests scored much better on the test when compared with other people who had not been given the FMRI treatment. Perhaps sooner or later, this will be one of the most powerful and innovative learning methods. The current school-based learning may need to be re-invented to cope with the ever-changing scientific development.
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