AI Platform for Cognitive Performance Training

Researchers from the National University of Singapore have utilized an AI platform, dubbed CURATE.AI, to help advance cognitive performance on challenging mental tasks.

The system works by identifying an individual’s strengths and weaknesses, and curating mental exercises to help them progress most rapidly. The work could have significant implications for future AI-based trainings, counseling, and therapy.

Most training exercises and courses in existence are developed for the masses: everyone undergoes the same online training, independent of our learning style or how well we can perform the task at hand. The CURATE.AI platform breaks this paradigm: it develops unique training exercises for each user, based on their current abilities and learning style. It is able to recognize how a new user learns by challenging them with a series of tasks and training routines, and then seeing which ones were most effective. This data is used to create a user’s individual CURATE.AI profile and develop a uniquely designed training regimen to work best for that one individual user.

This study, published in journal Advanced Therapeutics, describes the use of CURATE.AI for improving trainee performance on a US Air Force flight simulator program, a task that is very cognitively challenging.

In the past, the same research team used the CURATE.AI software to develop a personalized immunosuppressant dosing schedule after organ transplant, optimize drug discovery libraries, and study in vitro and in vivo models of disease, including multiple myeloma and tuberculosis.

In the study, participants underwent training with the flight simulator in low, medium, and high intensity levels. CURATE.AI characterized the performance of each of the participants in these different levels, and distinction was found among the trainees. Some thrived during high-intensity training exercises, while others performed better under low intensity, indicating that a personalized training method would be valuable. The researchers then used the AI platform to develop a curated training schedule, optimizing cognitive training and performance for all of the participants.

“With prolonged studies, we may be able to identify the continuously changing regimens that can further enhance performance in the long run. This can open up opportunities for CURATE.AI to be used for other applications such as the prevention of cognitive decline, and digital therapy,” explained Theodore Kee, the first author of the study.