2025-present (planned completion: 2026)
BRAVES-Cog: An integrated approach to the assessment and neuromodulation of cognitive deficits using multimodal behavioural data, environmental data, neurobiomarkers and biomedical signals
Project leader: prof. Joanna Rymaszewska, MD PhD DSc
Role: investigators in research task (BrainLab team)
Programme Support for research teams 2025, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology
Many people throughout their lives report cognitive problems (e.g., forgetfulness, “brain fog,” or difficulty concentrating), which are diagnostically unclear and difficult to objectively assess, presenting a significant clinical challenge. Subjective cognitive complaints are highly diverse and their underlying causes are ambiguous, making accurate diagnosis difficult. They are often not confirmed by objective neuropsychological testing, even though patients experience significant cognitive decline. This discrepancy between perceived cognitive decline and objective test results is well documented, particularly in populations with mild mood or anxiety disorders. As a result, current clinical practice lacks adequate tools to quantify some of these subjective complaints, which can result in both delayed diagnosis of true disorders and unnecessary medicalization of transient or emotional problems.
The BRAVES-Cog project integrates a multidisciplinary team of scientists into a single, interdisciplinary team, addressing the contemporary needs of cognitive impairment diagnostics. A key element of the project is the use of a non-invasive, multimodal diagnostic toolkit enabling the identification of a network of biomarkers of cognitive functions. This goal is achieved by combining the expertise of team members, who utilize diverse measurement methods—neurophysiological, behavioral, physiological, and linguistic—as well as advanced biosignal processing techniques. Integrating the data will enable the creation of a unique reference database of biosignals and neurobiomarker profiles specific to various types of cognitive impairment and to the individual, enabling more accurate differentiation of perceived cognitive deficits in the context of various conditions (e.g., ADHD, depression, mild cognitive deficits, or changes resulting from hypoxia). The project thus translates subjective complaints into objective indicators that can be monitored over time and used in clinical practice.
As part of the project, a new, interdisciplinary research team, BRAVES Team – Brain Regulation, Vascular, Eye & Stimulation Research Team, will be established. This team plans to conduct combined research, integrating simultaneous measurements of brain function from various modalities (behavioral and environmental data, neurobiomarkers, and biomedical signals). Collaboration among five existing research groups at Wrocław University of Science and Technology (Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Fundamental Problems of Technology, Faculty of Information and Communication Technology, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, and Faculty of Civil Engineering) will create a unique research space for the functioning of the central nervous system (CNS), leveraging the resources of Wrocław University of Science and Technology and local hospital and the expertise of experts in various fields. Wrocław University of Science and Technology researchers are studying the CNS from completely different perspectives. Integrating them into a single team will expand the scope of research on cognitive deficits, with the goal of expanding the scope of this collaboration in the future.