BRAINAURORA-B (06681): Research results on adaptive cognitive training for schizophrenia published in "npj Digital Medicine"

BRAINAURORA-B (06681) announced that a clinical research study, titled "Randomized trial of self-adaptive computerized cognitive remediation in schizophrenia," conducted by Professor Wang Gang's team from Beijing Anding Hospital affiliated with Capital Medical University in collaboration with the Group's research team, has been published in the prestigious international academic journal, npj Digital Medicine (Impact Factor 18.0, JCR Q1). This study is a randomized, double-blind, active-controlled clinical trial (ChiCTR2000040326) that enrolled 90 patients with schizophrenia, who were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to either the self-adaptive difficulty training group (SAD, with 41 completing the intervention) or the fixed difficulty training group (FD, with 31 completing the intervention). The cognitive and clinical outcomes were compared between the two groups after 4 weeks of intervention and 8 weeks of follow-up. Subjects in both groups completed the training using the Group's "Brain Function Information Management Platform Software System" (a Class II medical device). Cognitive outcomes were assessed using the Cognitive Index (CI) and the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB). Main findings: (1) Cognitive improvement was faster and stronger: The linear mixed-effects model indicated that the adaptive group demonstrated significantly greater and faster improvement in attention and processing speed/agility dimensions (P=0.02), with a trend towards faster improvement observed in the thinking dimension as well. (2) Significant improvement in total MCCB score: The adaptive group performed significantly better than the control group on the Continuous Performance Test-Identifying Perceptual (CPT-IP) and the total MCCB score. (3) Significant improvement in positive symptoms: At the end of the 4-week training, the positive symptom scores on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) of the adaptive group showed a significant decrease compared to the control group. (4) First-time revelation of the difficulty-performance coupling mechanism: The study observed robust difficulty-performance coupling effects across five major cognitive domains: memory, attention, perception, agility, and thinking, suggesting that dynamic difficulty calibration is a key active mechanism driving cognitive benefits. The research concluded that self-adaptive cognitive training can enhance and accelerate cognitive improvements in patients with schizophrenia, especially in terms of attention and processing speed, while also benefiting the improvement of positive symptoms; the difficulty-performance coupling may reflect the role of dynamic load calibration as a critical therapeutic mechanism for digital cognitive training. This study is the first to confirm through a randomized double-blind controlled trial that self-adaptive cognitive training can accelerate cognitive recovery in patients with schizophrenia and is the first to reveal the difficulty-performance coupling as an active mechanism of digital therapy. The findings, published in the journal npj Digital Medicine with an Impact Factor of 18.0, signify high recognition of the Group's research in the field of digital therapies for mental disorders on an international academic platform. The Group's researchers participated deeply, fully demonstrating the ongoing deepening of the Group's model of "industry-university-research-medical integration," further expanding the evidence base for the Group's digital therapies. The Board of Directors believes that the above findings align with the Group's long-term development strategy, which will further consolidate the Group's leading position in the digital therapy field for cognitive disorders and create long-term value for shareholders.