The following is a selection of some of our active studies.
Roybal Center: Working Memory Digital Intervention in Aging
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if engaging with a digital intervention may improve working memory function in older adults (aged 60-85) with mild cognitive impairment. The trial will be fully remote with participants able to engage from their own homes.
Team: Zanto (Co-PI), Wais (PI), Abe, Arioli, Havazelet, Baroni
Funding: NIH – NIA
Roybal Center: Working Long-Term Digital Intervention in Aging
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if engaging with a digital intervention may improve long-term memory function in older adults (aged 60-85) with mild cognitive impairment. The trial will be fully remote with participants able to engage from their own homes.
Team: Wais (PI), Zanto (Co-PI), Arioli, Abe, Havazelet, Baroni
Funding: NIH – NIA
Technology for Aging Health – Digital Approaches (TAH-DA Study)
This study uses Samsung tablet and watches to track cognition and everyday behaviors of 1,000 adults (aged 40–89). The aim is to identify early predictors of cognitive decline and test digital training tools designed to maintain brain health across the lifespan.
Team: Anguera (co-PI), Zanto (Co-PI), Gazzaley (co-PI), Volponi, J.Gazzaley
Funding:
Attention and Learning – Adolescents with Traumatic Brain Injuries
Traumatic brain injury often disrupts attention and learning in children, with few effective treatments available. This study uses a video-game-based training approach delivered remotely to help adolescents rebuild cognitive skills and improve academic and everyday functioning.
Team: Anguera (co-PI), Crook, Kerner-Johnson (co-PI)
Funding: UCSF RAP
Closed-Loop Interventions – Young and Middle-Aged Adults
The goal of this study is to assess the benefits of Neuroscape interventions (Meditrain, Worder, Coherence, Engage) in healthy young and middle-aged adults using our Nexus platform. A large cohort size will help us understand how individual differences in improvements of aspects of cognitive control, such as attention and working memory, inform intervention-specific effects and pave the way to personalized intervention approaches in the future.
Team: Anguera (co-PI), Gallen (co-PI), Zanto (co-PI), Ziegler (co-PI), Ostrand, Tsen, Volponi,
Funding: McGovern Foundation
Improving Cognitive Assessment Infrastructure
This project is building a software infrastructure to improve how cognition is measured and compared across cognitive intervention and longitudinal studies in older adults. By enabling more precise, scalable assessments, the platform will support research on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias while advancing mental fitness across multiple NIH health domains.
Team: Anguera (co-PI), J.Gazzaley, Volponi, Seitz – Northeastern (co-PI), Jaeggi – Northeastern (co-PI)
Funding: NIH- NIA
Immersive Rhythm Training – Learning Differences
The goal of this study is to assess the benefits of rhythm learning with Coherence using a VR head-mounted display in children who have learning differences, such as ADHD and dyslexia. This will help us understand how improving rhythm and temporal attention can lead to real-world benefits.
Team: Gallen (co-PI), Zanto (Co-PI), Gordon, Collaborators at UCSF Dyslexia Center (Gorno-Tempini, Watson)
Funding: Schwab Dyslexia and Cognitive Diversity Center
Emotion Sensing – Machine Learning
The goal of this study is to integrate advanced AI and machine learning frameworks with our multimodal biosensing (MMBS) system to decode mental states such as emotion and arousal in human participants. The ability to decode mental states has numerous therapeutic applications that could provide critical insight into the well-being of a patient or enhance the efficacy of a closed-loop intervention.
Team: Abbasi-Asl (PI), Bijanzadeh, Zanto, Ziegler, Wang, Nandi, Campusano, R. Anguera, Gazzaley
Funding: McGovern Foundation
Psilocybin – Meditation
The goal of this study is to assess the potential of a combined psilocybin and digital meditation intervention (Meditrain) to improve emotional well-being in older adults who are lonely. Additionally, electrophysiological, autonomic, and neuroimaging markers will be collected through our multimodal biosensing system, enabling us to understand how brain-body interactions may be altered through these interventions and are affected by loneliness.
Team: Pasquini (PI), Mace, Ostrand, Valtierra
Funding: NIA (R00AG065457), David Dolby and the Dolby Foundation
Navigation – Memory
Labyrinth will be used to study how different types of spatial navigation challenges (virtual reality and tablet-based) result in improved memory and attention in older adults. Findings will also enable us to understand changes in the brain induced by learning navigation tasks.
Team: Wais (PI), Arioli, R. Anguera, Gordon
Funding: Goodman
Meditrain
The goals of this study are to first determine the minimal and/or optimal dose of a meditation-inspired digital intervention (Meditrain) required to improve cognition, and then to examine the impact of potential moderators of treatment effects (i.e., cognitive decline, cardiovascular risk, and race/ethnicity). This knowledge will pave the way for a precision medicine model for interventions in older adults with cognitive deficits who are at risk of developing dementia.
Team: Ziegler (Co-PI), Gazzaley (Co-PI), Crook, De Villa
Funding: NIA (R01AG076668)
Meditrain – Brain Stimulation
The goal of this study is to collect pilot feasibility and early efficacy data showing improvements in cognition and wellbeing in adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) through a combination treatment of non-invasive brain stimulation (transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS)) and a novel form of closed-loop digital meditation (Meditrain).
Team: Ziegler (Co-PI), Zanto (Co-PI), Gazzaley, Hartley, Chen
Funding: NIA (R61AG080528)
Meditrain – Sleep
The goal of this research is to collect pilot data to test the hypothesis that treatment with a novel form of closed-loop digital meditation (Meditrain) will lead to a greater magnitude of gains in cognitive abilities in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), compared to OA without cognitive impairment, and will also lead to improvements in quantitative measures of sleep.
Team: Ziegler (Co-PI), Walsh (Co-PI), Gazzaley, Patwardhan, Chen
Funding: NIA (R61AG083503)
Psilocybin – Set & Setting
The goal of this study is to assess the contribution of contextual factors (both ‘set’ and ‘setting’) on the nature and trajectory of effects of a single dosing session with psilocybin. Physiological data and subjective evaluations will allow us to determine whether an enriched set and setting interact positively with a psilocybin experience to promote post-session increases in well-being.
Team: Carhart-Harris (PI), Mitchell (Co-PI), Gazzaley, Coker, Miller, Girn, Kettner, Griffith, Yego
Funding: Sarlo, McKnight, Jurvetson, Ferriss, Bedari, Walker, Hearst, Van Almsick
Psilocybin – Internal States
The goal of this study is to identify the neuronal and physiological signatures of distinct sub-states known to occur within psychedelic drug-induced altered states of consciousness: namely, “acceptance vs resistance to feelings”; “positive vs negative feelings” and “no insight to strong insight”. Achieving these goals will have large potential for practical applications, specifically enabling more responsive and adaptive psychedelic therapy protocols.
Team: Carhart-Harris (PI), Pasquini (Co-PI), Gazzaley, Girn, Ostrand, Coker, Rosati, Kettner, Weinstein
Funding: Anonymous