We've seen a number of headsets tap into the brain, some of which geotag your mood, grant you remote control over gadgets or simply let you wiggle a pair of cat ears with your mind. However, none of them function quite like the foc.us, which is meant to provide transcranial direct-current simulation (tDCS), a controversial form of neurosimulation that transmits current to a particular area of the brain. Originally used to help patients with brain injuries, tDCS has supposedly been found to increase cognitive performance in healthy adults. However, it hasn't been proven to provide medical benefits and isn't approved by the FDA.
Still, the foc.us is one of a few tDCS headsets designed for the consumer market, and can, the inventor Michael Oxley claims, improve your working or short-term memory when the electrodes are placed on your prefrontal cortex. A low-intensity current is passed through the different nodes, exciting that part of the brain. Interestingly, Oxley is positioning it as a way to boost your video gaming prowess for the "ultimate gaming experience," a concept we found a little odd.
foc.us
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That said, you don't actually have to wear the headset while shooting up bad guys. The idea behind the foc.us headset is to put it on your noggin, fire it up, and wait for around five to ten minutes for it to do its job. As you can see from the pictures, the device has four copper electrodes that are designed to sit on your forehead via four saline-soaked sponges, which are there to prevent your skin from burning -- you are getting about a milliamp of current zapped across your cranium after all. A touch sensor on the back turns the headset on when held down and activates the tDCS when double tapped.
We strapped the headset on for ourselves at a recent event, and we found it to be a weird experience. There was a strange, almost burning, sensation on the right part of our forehead, while the rest merely tingled. Oxley told us that it was normal for some people to feel it more on one side than the other, and that tDCS does take some getting used to. After about eight minutes, the tingling sensation remained even after we removed the headset. We didn't really feel our powers of concentration improve that much afterward, but it's hard to say after such a limited time.
The model that we tried was only a prototype; the final product will be made out of polypropylene and polycarbonate materials and the sponges will be of a higher-grade as well. The final foc.us kit will include a headset (available in black or red), a case, eight reusable sponges and a microUSB cable. For those who want to take tDCS a step further, you can get additional electrodes that can be attached elsewhere on the head. The default setting is 1.0mA for five minutes, but if you pair it with the iOS app, it's configurable from 0.8 to 2.0mA and from five to 40 minute. If you're a tDCS believer, then be prepared to pay hypochondriac prices for your latest toy, as it'll set you back $249 in the US and ?179 in the UK. The first batch should ship by July, while subsequent orders are set to arrive from October onward.
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