Delgado and the Stimoceiver

Excerpt form a lecture give by Hugh Darrow at the Bonn-Rhine-Seig University in March, 2016.

I'd like to tell you another research story I find absolutely fascinating. This one involves Dr. José Manuel Rodriguez Delgado, a Spanish professor of physiology at Yale University.

Delgado's research interests centered on using electrical signals to evoke specific responses in the brain. His earliest work was with cats, but later he performed experiments with monkeys and humans. Much of the expeirments centered around an invention he called a "stimoceiver" -- a radio which joined a stimulator of brain waves to a receiver that monitored E.E.G. waves before sending them back on separate radio channels. This allowed the subject of the experiment full freedom of movement, while also allowing the experimenter to control the experiment.

Delgado used his stimoceiver to stimulate emotions and attempt to control behavior. In one test involving 4 patients, he stimulated points in the amygdala and hippocampus to produced a variety of effects, including "pleasant sensations, elation, deep, thoughtful concentration, odd feelings, super relaxation, colored visions, and other responses."

Delgado later stated that "brain transmitters can remain in a person's head for life. The energy to activate the brain transmitter is transmitted by way of radio frequencies."

(Source: Cannon; Delgado, J.M.R., "Intracerebral Radio Stimulation and recording in Completely Free Patients," in Schwitzgebel and Schwitzgebel (eds.))