An improved way to detect brainwaves, using artificial intelligence (AI) models trained on animal data, has been developed by Spanish researchers.

The research by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), along with Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, USA, used brain recordings of mice to train the AI to detect their brainwaves – fast oscillations that are the basis for forming memories – which are disrupted in certain neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s.

Brainwaves have different properties and wavelengths that can be missed by standard imaging techniques, but by using AI, the team showed that this method could automatically detect and analyse them in monkeys, also revealing shared properties between different species.

Lead author Liset M. de la Prida, at CSIC, said: “This bank of AI models will provide new applications in the field of neurotechnologies and can be useful for detection and analysis of high-frequency oscillations in pathologies such as epilepsy, where they are considered clinical markers.”