GETTY Scientists may have figured out how to upload knowledge to brains

In a breakthrough which promises new technology like that from The Matrix, researchers at HRL Laboratories have developed a programme which they say can upload new skills and knowledge directly to your brain. The California-based institution analysed electrical signals in the brain of a pilot and fed the data to people who didn’t have the knowledge to fly planes via electrode-embedded head caps which stimulated the correct regions of the brain.

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The participants who were fed the information via electrodes were then pitted against a placebo group on a realistic flight simulation test, which found that the former performed an average of 33 per cent better than the latter, according to the results published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. Lead author Dr Matthew Phillips explained: “Our system is one of the first of its kind. It's a brain stimulation system.

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"It sounds kind of sci-fi, but there's large scientific basis for the development of our system. "The specific task we were looking at was piloting an aircraft, which requires a synergy of both cognitive and motor performance.

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"When you learn something, your brain physically changes. Connections are made and strengthened in a process called neuro-plasticity. “It turns out that certain functions of the brain, like speech and memory, are located in very specific regions of the brain, about the size of your pinky.” He added that this could be the future of learning: “What our system does is it actually targets those changes to specific regions of the brain as you learn.

“The method itself is actually quite old. In fact, the ancient Egyptians 4000 years ago used electric fish to stimulate and reduce pain. “Even Ben Franklin applied currents to his head, but the rigorous, scientific investigation of these methods started in the early 2000s and we're building on that research to target and personalise a stimulation in the most effective way possible.