Dr. Michael Kilgard

We're adding this boost so that the neurons don't give up on it.

It's going to take thousands of repeats, and it needs to feel important.

And when you're learning to ski, if you don't do it right, you're going to go tumble down the mountain.

When you're a baby and you're trying to walk, you're going to hit your face.

We're doing therapy safely, so no one's actually in any danger.

But by tricking the system, hacking the vagus nerve, just these small number of stretch receptors from the heart and lungs, activating those, which people don't typically feel, by activating those, we send the signal, release this cocktail of these three neurotransmitters,

And now the synaptic eligibility trace, instead of letting that potential strengthening go away, it just keeps building and building and building.

And we're now seeing even years later, after people have been implanted, they're still making continual gains.

And that's surprising.

It seemed like they had a sentence, no more progress, you're an adult, no more plasticity.

But that's inconsistent with what we know.

I can learn new things any time.

Sure.

But why couldn't you get better from stroke?

The hole in your head was too great.

Evolution didn't prepare you for that kind of injury.

Now we're finding we can make progress even with stroke, spinal cord injury, tinnitus, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

I mean, all of the drugs of abuse will increase.

Nicotine.

All of the drugs of abuse will increase acetylcholine as well as increasing dopamine.