US military scientists have used electrical brain stimulators to enhance the mental skills of staff.

Their research aims to improve the performance of air crews, drone operators, and others in the most demanding roles in the armed forces.

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The successful test of the devices will pave the way for servicemen and women to be fully alert at critical times on duty.

Electrical pulses will be beamed into their brains to improve their effectiveness in high pressure situations.

Scientists at the Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio said "within the air force, various operations such as remotely piloted and manned aircraft operations require a human operator to monitor and respond to multiple events simultaneously over a long period of time."

Writing in a new report, the scientists added that the operator's performance may decline shortly after their work shift commences. These are the issues that the new devices are trying to combat.

In a series of experiments at the air force base, the researchers found that electrical brain stimulation can improve people's multitasking skill.

This can help to combat the drop in performance that comes with information overload.

To conduct the study, the scientists had participants take a test developed by NASA to assess multitasking skills.

The participants were required to keep a crosshair inside a moving circle on a computer, while constantly monitoring and reacting to three other tasks on the screen.

According to the report, the brain stimulation group started to perform better than the control group four minutes into the test.

However, some experts have not bought into brain stimulation, saying that its long term safety is unknown. They have also raised concerns that staff could be forced to utilise use the equipment if it is approved for military operations.

Tagsus millitary, Science, brain stimulators