CANDICE: Welcome to Cracker Croakers for Thursday, January 24, 2019. I'm Candice Bergeron, your hostess with the mostest.

COLTON: And, I'm your other host Colton Wyatt.

CANDICE: There appears to be a growing trendy market for brain stimulation devices. Products like the TENS Unit 3000, the TDCS Transcranial Stimulator, and the BigStem Interferential Device that is often used for bi-polar stimulation. However, most of this technology remains unproven according to several experts in the field.

COLTON: This market Candice refers to is expected to exceed more than three billion dollars in sales in one year's time. But, according to an essay recently published in Science Magazine, the peer-reviewed academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, better information about direct-to-consumer neurotechnology products is required where these devices are concerned.

CANDICE: Some of these advanced products purport to monitor brain activity. They also are alleged to provide low levels of electrical stimulation to the brain through transcranial direct current stimulation. In turn, this is supposed to offer the goal of improving cognitive and athletic performance as well as improved mental health.

COLTON: Often marketed as science-based, another proposed feature of these devices are apps and games designed to sharpen thinking and monitor mental health.

CANDICE: Opponents of these devices claim many companies offering them have performed very little research on their effectiveness. That's not good! Others state they are based loosely on laboratory science and lack real-world application in home settings.

COLTON: Critics provide such evidence as products designed to monitor brain activities with EEGs use fewer electrodes than those in labs do.

CANDICE: Another negative affect of these devices is that the electrodes are placed by untrained consumers. Therefore, scientists continue to debate most of the approaches of products pitched directly to the buying public.

COLTON: Further issues could well develop if consumers used these products more frequently than recommended.

CANDICE: Statistics indicate about one-third of the respondents in a recent survey were noted for using the devices to self-test depression, which they are not meant for.

COLTON: In 2016, 39 researchers signed a letter to the transcranial direct current stimulation community that outlined their disagreements with do-it-yourself at-home brain stimulation without scientific research to back the device's claims up. This letter can be found in the Annals of Neurology and Neurological Science.

CANDICE: Possible health risks associated with these devices include burns to the skin. There may also be long-term unexpected affects caused by brain stimulation.

COLTON: Electrical stimulation directed at one portion of the brain affects more of the brain than most people realize. And, different people are sometimes affected in different contradictory ways than planned.

CANDICE: It is not yet known how long the positive and negative affects of brain stimulation with these devices last.

COLTON: Some evidence has been established that brain training games can improve the functioning in certain cognitive regions of the brain. Any broader impacts that translate into better everyday functioning abilities remain extremely controversial.

CANDICE: Sold at various locations, brain and EEG devices come prepackaged in a variety of shapes. Some contain electrodes while others possess headsets or headphones. And, their prices can range between 150 to 300 dollars.

COLTON: Neurotechnologies have avoided FDA regulations by limiting their proclamation to wellness for consumers. Consumers need better information about these devices to make more and better decisions concerning their use. The question remains as to what science actually supports about them and where the gaps in knowledge about them lies.

CANDICE: That about wraps us up for this edition of Cracker Croakers.

COLTON: In that case smarty-pants, I suppose we better say adieu. She's Candice!

CANDICE: And, he's Colton!

CANDICE AND COLTON: And, we invite you to join us again tomorrow for another entertaining edition of Cracker Croakers (Featuring Candice and Colton).