Using facial expressions to personalize at‑home brain training for older adults at risk for Alzheimer's
A facial expression-based personalization engine (FPE) for monitoring and modulating real-time effective engagement in cognitive training in older adults at risk for AD/ADRD
This project uses a camera-driven system that reads facial expressions to keep older adults at risk for Alzheimer's engaged with at-home cognitive training.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Stanford University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Stanford, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11383294 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
You would use computerized brain-training exercises at home while a software 'personalization engine' watches your facial expressions to detect signs like fatigue or loss of interest. The system changes task novelty and pacing in real time to try to keep you actively focused and enjoying the training. Early years focus on building and refining the facial-expression engine, and later years test how well it helps people stick with unsupervised training and gain cognitive benefits. The goal is to make home training easier to follow and more likely to produce lasting improvements.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal participants are older adults who are at increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias and who can use at-home computerized cognitive training.
Not a fit: People with advanced dementia, severe vision or facial-movement disorders, or strong discomfort with camera monitoring may not benefit from this approach.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the system could help people stay with home-based brain training longer and get more cognitive benefit from it.
How similar studies have performed: Adaptive and engagement-focused digital training has had mixed results in prior work, and using facial-expression personalization for this purpose is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
Stanford, United States
- Stanford University — Stanford, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Lin, Feng Vankee — Stanford University
- Study coordinator: Lin, Feng Vankee
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.