The individual brain stimulation system powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that can safely enhance concentration from home was developed by researchers at Surrey University, Oxford University, and Cognitive Neurotechnology. Designed to adapt to individual characteristics, this system helps people improve their focus during research, work, or other mentally demanding tasks.
Published in NPJ Digital Medicine,This study is based on a patented approach that uses non-invasive brain stimulation along with adaptive AI to maximize its impact. This technology uses transcranial random noise stimulation (TRNS) (a gentle, painless form of brain stimulation) and AI algorithms that learn to personalize stimuli based on individual characteristics, including attention level and head size. By adjusting the stimulus intensity to these properties, the system has identified the optimal settings without the need for expensive MRI scans, making personalization scalable and cost-effective.
AI was trained using data from 103 people aged 18-35 and completed 290 home-based sessions using CE Mark (European Union Standard) headgear and tablet-based sustained attention tasks. The system was subsequently evaluated in a double-blind study involving 37 new participants. Those who received personalized AI-guided stimuli showed significantly better performance than during standard or placebo stimuli. The most powerful improvements were initially seen in individuals who showed lower levels of attention.
Our modern world is always competing for our attention. What's exciting about this task is that it is possible to safely and effectively improve cognitive performance using personalized systems that people can use independently at home. This opens up new possibilities for improving sustained attention, learning, and other cognitive abilities in an accessible, adaptive, and scalable way.
Our research highlights the growing role of AI and wearable neural technologies in enabling personalized real-world cognitive enhancement with potential applications across education, training and future clinical use. ”
Professor Roy Cohen Cudsch, Head of Psychology at the University of Surrey, founder of Cognit Neurotechnology Inc. and lead author of the study.
In this study, there were no serious side effects and the frequency and severity of sensation during stimulation were not different to those experienced during placebo. AI also helped to avoid stimulus levels that could impair performance. This is something that failed to achieve the previous impersonal method.
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Journal Reference:
Cohen Cadsch, R. et al. (2025) Individual home-distance neural stimulation via AI optimization reinforces sustained attention. NPJ Digital Medicine. doi.org/10.1038/S41746-025-01744-6.
