Research by Adam J. Woods, Ph.D., associate director of UF’s Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory, and collaborators using artificial intelligence to personalize transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) was highlighted in the Society for Neuroscience’s 2021 annual report.
The research team is investigating the use of tDCS paired with cognitive training as a potential future way to slow cognitive decline that comes with the natural aging process.
To further their research, Woods, an associate professor of clinical and health psychology in UF’s College of Public Health and Health Professions, and Ruogu Fang, Ph.D., an assistant professor in UF’s J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering, are co-principal investigators on a team that was awarded a $2.9 million grant from the National Institute on Aging. They will study the use of machine-learning algorithms to evaluate a large data set gleaned from a study of tDCS and cognitive training in older adults.
The goal is to gain more insights into mechanisms that could play a role in an individual’s response to tDCS so researchers may work toward designing a customized method for providing this form of brain stimulation with the best possible outcome.