Research led by Thilo Womelsdorf, professor of psychology and biomedical engineering at the Vanderbilt Brain Institute, could revolutionize how brain-computer interfaces are used to treat disorders of memory and cognition.
The study, “Adaptive reinforcement learning is causally supported by anterior cingulate cortex and striatum,” was published June 10, 2025, in the journal Neuron.
According to researchers, neurologists use electrical brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) to help patients with Parkinson’s disease and spinal cord injuries when drugs and other rehabilitative interventions are not efficient. For these disorders, researchers say brain-computer interfaces have become electroceuticals that substitute pharmaceuticals by directly modulating dysfunctional brain signals.
Similar to contracting muscles for movements, cognition is brought about by electrical impulses in the brain. But how the brain organizes the electrical impulses for cognition or memory functions is linked to a complex network of brain areas.
In the study, Womelsdorf and his team found two structures of this cognitive network where electrical impulses directly relate to flexible learning about visual objects. Using a brain-computer interface to amplify ongoing electrical impulses in this network, the study found improved learning and attention.
“The premise of this study was based on the insight that brief electrical impulses within this brain network precede periods with enhanced learning,” Womelsdorf said. “By boosting these brain-intrinsic learning impulses we were able to speed up the learning process and effectively improve cognitive flexibility.”
He added that the study, which used funds from the National Institute of Mental Health, could pave the way for faster progress in developing brain-computer interfaces that can restore or assist with cognitive functions in patients with cognitive disabilities.
“There are severe disorders where cognition is stuck, as in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder; or where cognition can’t access memories anymore as in Alzheimer’s dementia,” Womelsdorf said. “For these cognitive disabilities brain-computer interfaces promise to become next-generation electroceutical treatment options.”
The study’s coauthors included biomedical engineering graduate student Louis Treuting; postdoctoral scholar and electrical and computer engineering alumnus, Charles Gerrity, Ph.D.’25; research specialist Adam Neumann; and Princeton University postdoctoral scholar and Vanderbilt alumnus, Kianoush Banaie Boroujeni, Ph.D.’21.