Speaker

Name: Games for Health Europe Conference
Start: 2026-03-30T09:00
End: 2025-03-31T18:00

Speaker Info

Biography: Lukas Gehrke is a neuroscientist and engineer working at the intersection of human–computer interaction, AI, and neurotechnology. He completed his PhD studies at TU Berlin, where his research focused on how presence experience emerges in virtual reality. He is currently a Senior Neuroengineer at Zander Labs, developing real-time, mental-state–aware interfaces and demonstrations that explore how interactive systems can adapt to users. His work translates latent cognitive signals—such as workload, surprise, or uncertainty—into more intuitive, human-compatible technologies. Lukas is particularly interested in how neuroscience-informed design can reshape interaction in XR, AI-driven systems, and complex technical environments.

Title: Neuroadaptive Games: From Mental State Sensing to Meaningful Interaction

Summary: Games have become increasingly adaptive, yet most personalization still relies on player behavior. Yet true hyperpersonalization requires something deeper: access to the player’s internal mental state. What if games and generative systems could adapt not only to what players do, but to how they are doing—in real time? In this talk, we explore neuroadaptation through passive brain–computer interfacing (pBCI) as an emerging paradigm for interactive systems. By estimating mental states such as cognitive workload, surprise dynamics, and engagement, neuroadaptive systems can adjust pacing, interaction style, or content generation in ways that are supportive rather than reactive. At Zander Labs, we develop the infrastructure that makes this possible: real-time brain–computer interface technology, robust signal processing pipelines designed to handle uncertainty, and hardware solutions, our “Zypher” suite, that enable practical deployment beyond laboratory environments. This stack allows mental-state information to become a design variable rather than a research artifact. Neuroadaptive games represent the next step in hyperpersonalized interaction: systems that adapt meaningfully, responsibly, and in real time to the human in the loop—shifting towards interactions that are responsive and aligned with human cognitive dynamics.