STTR Phase I: Innovative Wearable Technology to Facilitate Cognitive Learning Transference

这个小企业技术转让（STTR）第一阶段项目将为教育市场开发一种神经认知训练设备，其目标是执行功能（EF）和注意力缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）及其对学习障碍，阅读理解和学业成功的影响。在美国，每五个人中就有一个人有学习障碍，教育一个学习障碍学生的费用是普通教育学生费用的1.6倍。有学习障碍的学生中有35%从高中辍学，这是没有学习障碍的学生辍学率的两倍。该STTR项目将通过开发一种训练认知能力的设备，使有学习障碍的儿童受益。从更广泛的意义上说，这项技术也可以用来帮助有学习障碍的成年人。拟议的STTR项目的商业成果导致一种最初在学校或其他真实的环境中使用的可销售产品，本研究的目的是开发一种无束缚的神经反馈系统，使学生能够在多种环境中应用神经认知训练，包括在学校和学校，在家学习的时候。所提出的工作的一个关键创新是解耦的神经反馈系统从传统的计算机化接口，使神经认知训练在现实世界中的活动。据推测，这种方法将改善培训向新场景的转移，而不仅仅是针对特定的培训任务。为了实现这一目标，将开发一种替代的基于可穿戴设备的解决方案，通过视觉反馈向用户发送实时认知状态信号，使他们能够训练自己的认知能力。该项目的第一阶段将开发一个能够实时脑电图（EEG）测量和分类的原型系统，该系统通过可穿戴眼镜向用户提供反馈。可行性将在神经反馈训练试点研究中得到证明。

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will develop a neurocognitive training device for the education market which targets executive function (EF) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and their impact on learning disabilities, reading comprehension and academic success. As many as one out of every five people in the United States has a learning disability (LD) and the cost of educating a student with a LD is 1.6 times the expenditure for a general education student. Thirty-five percent of students with learning disabilities drop out of high school, which is twice the rate of students without LD. This STTR project will benefit children with learning disabilities through development of a device to train cognitive ability. In a broader sense, the technology could also be used to aid adults that have a learning disability. The commercial outcome of the proposed STTR project leads to a marketable product used initially in the context of school or during other real-world activities to improve outcomes for children with a LD resulting in lower overall education costs and higher productivity as an adult.The goal of this research is to develop an untethered neurofeedback system enabling students to apply neurocognitive training within multiple environments including during school and while at home studying. A key innovation of the proposed work is decoupling of the neurofeedback system from conventional computerized interfaces which enables neurocognitive training during real-world activities. It is hypothesized that this approach will lead to improved transference of the training to new scenarios rather than only working for a specific training task. To accomplish this, an alternative wearable based solution will be developed that signals real-time cognitive status to the user through visual feedback enabling them to train their cognitive ability. This phase I project will develop a prototype system capable of real-time electroencephalography (EEG) measurement and classification which provides feedback to the user through wearable eyeglasses. The feasibility will be demonstrated during a neurofeedback training pilot study.