Technology meets Neuroscience - A Vision of the Future of Brain Optimization

A fundamental challenge of modern society is the development of effective approaches to enhance brain function and cognition in both the healthy and impaired. For the healthy, this should be a core mission of our educational system and for the cognitively impaired this is the primary goal of our medical system. Unfortunately, neither of these systems have effectively met this challenge. I will describe a novel approach out of our center at UCSF - Neuroscape - that uses custom-designed video games to achieve meaningful and sustainable cognitive enhancement via personalized closed-loop systems (Nature 2013; Neuron 4014). I will also share with you the next stage of our research program, which integrates our video games with the latest technological innovations in software (e.g., brain computer interface algorithms, GPU computing, cloud-based analytics) and hardware (e.g., virtual reality, mobile EEG, motion capture, physiological recording devices (watches), transcranial brain stimulation) to further enhance our brain’s information processing systems with the ultimate aim of improving quality of life.

Adam Gazzaley, M.D., Ph.D. is Professor in Neurology, Physiology and Psychiatry at the UCSF, and the Founder & Executive Director of Neuroscape. Dr. Gazzaley is co-founder and Chief Science Advisor of Akili Interactive Labs and JAZZ Venture Partners. He has filed multiple patents, authored over 125 scientific articles, and delivered over 525 invited presentations around the world. He recently co-authored “The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High-Tech World”. He has received many awards,including the 2015 Society for Neuroscience – Science Educator Award.