Saying or doing the wrong thing at the wrong time could be a thing of the past.

Neuroscientists at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and the University of California have successfully demonstrated a technique to enhance a form of self-control through a new form of brain stimulation, according to a press release.

"There is a circuit in the brain for inhibiting or braking responses," Nitin Tandon, the study's senior author and associate professor in The Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Texas Health Medical School, said in a statement. "We believe we are the first to show that we can enhance this braking system with brain stimulation."

The technique or proof-of-principle study appears in the Dec. 11 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. In a press release, Tandon said the method may one day be useful for treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Tourette's syndrome and other severe disorders of self-control.

In their study to test the technique out, subjects were asked to perform a simple behavioral task that required the braking/slowing of action - inhibition -in the brain.

In each participant, the researchers first identified the specific location for this brake in the prefrontal region of the brain. They then increased activity in this brain region using stimulation with "brief and imperceptible electrical" charges. This led to increased braking - a form of enhanced self-control.

A computer stimulated the prefrontal cortex exactly when braking was needed. This was done using electrodes implanted directly on the brain surface.

When scientists repeated the study in participants on a brain region outside the prefrontal cortex, there was no effect on behavior, showing the effect to be specific to the prefrontal braking system.

When the test was repeated with stimulation of a brain region outside the prefrontal cortex, This was a double-blind study, meaning that participants and scientists did not know when or where the charges were being administered.

According to researchers, the method of electrical stimulation was novel in that it apparently enhanced prefrontal function, whereas other human brain stimulation studies mostly disrupt normal brain activity.