If numbers have never been your thing, a team of scientists from Swansea University, the University of Surrey and Oxford University may have found something that helps: a small dose of electricity to the brain. In a recent study, they found that gently stimulating a part of the brain called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex helped people who struggled with maths catch up with those who found it easier. The study, reported by PsyPost, involved 72 adults aged between 18 and 30. All participants did some maths tests, underwent brain scans and completed five short training sessions while wearing a cap fitted with electrodes.
Some participants received transcranial random noise stimulation, known as tRNS, on the prefrontal cortex, while others had stimulation applied to a different part of the brain or received no stimulation at all. The ones who improved the most were those who’d started off weakest and received the zap in the right place. Their performance improved dramatically over the five sessions, and brain scans showed that people with weaker neural connections to begin with benefitted most.
How it works and why it matters
The prefrontal cortex is involved in reasoning, decision-making and problem-solving, while another part of the brain, the posterior parietal cortex, helps process numbers and calculation. Researchers found that people with less effective communication between these two areas saw the biggest boost when they got the right kind of stimulation.
According to The Times, the stimulation only lasted for a minute during each 20 to 30-minute session and felt more like a faint tingling than anything uncomfortable. What’s interesting is how the stimulation seemed to “excite” neurons, making them fire more easily during learning. People with naturally lower levels of a brain chemical called GABA, which usually dampens activity, also responded better.
This doesn’t mean you can put on a hat and become a maths genius overnight, but it does open the door to new tools that might help people who struggle in traditional classroom settings. The results also line up with earlier studies, including work by researchers cited in Nature Communications, showing how brain stimulation can complement mental training in very targeted ways.
It’s worth noting, though, that people who already scored high in maths didn’t see much change at all. This only worked for those who had room to improve, which suggests it might help level the playing field, not widen it. That has potential for addressing what’s known in education as the Matthew Effect, where strong students keep getting stronger while others fall behind.
Will this really become a thing?
While the findings are promising, researchers are cautious. This was a small, controlled study, and they’re not recommending anyone start zapping themselves at home. Studies like this one, as WIRED has previously explored, highlight both the potential and the limits of at-home brain stimulation. The science is evolving quickly, but there are still big questions about how lasting the effects are, who benefits most, and whether it can work safely outside of a lab environment.
Still, it adds to a growing body of research suggesting we can support learning by understanding brain chemistry and structure more deeply. In future, we may see tailored interventions for people with learning difficulties like dyscalculia, using personalised brain scans and targeted techniques to support areas of weakness.
It’s not magic, and it definitely doesn’t replace hard work, but it does suggest the gap between struggling and succeeding might not be as fixed as it seems.