For invasive cognitive enhancement to work, firms will need to validate both the “neuro” and the “tech”

— A Hardware Update for the Human Brain (The Wall Street Journal): “The field that gave Emily her life back is known as neurotechnology, or simply neurotech—a marriage of neurology, neuroscience, neurosurgery and the kind of hardware that goes into smartphones. Today, most neurotech companies are focused on medical applications, which they think could be a multibillion-dollar market. Deep-brain stimulators, which use electric pulses to reduce the tremors associated with Parkinson’s disease, have been implanted in more than 100,000 people. Preliminary research suggests that targeted brain stimulation with similar technology can improve recall in those with memory loss—a potential game-changer for the 5.4 million Americans with Alzheimer’s disease. Neuropace’s RNS system is currently the only FDA-approved implant able to both sense and respond to neural activity. Medical-device makers such as Medtronic, Boston Scientific and Stryker aren’t far behind. But a number of players have entered the field of neurotech with a different goal: cognitive enhancement of healthy humans, made possible by the formal, physical union of computers and our brains…Dr. Brem is quick to point out that the biggest obstacle to advanced neurotech implants isn’t the development of new hardware or the surgery required to implant it. “Opening and closing the skull isn’t the challenge for us,” Dr. Brem says. “Conceptually it sounds very frightening, but the technology to do that ...
Source: SharpBrains - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tags: Cognitive Neuroscience Education & Lifelong Learning Peak Performance Technology Boston Scientific brain cognitive-enhancement DARPA hardware human-brain medical Medtronic neurology NeuroPace neurosurgery neurotech Neurotec Source Type: blogs