Psychological and educational scientists define self-regulation as a goal-directed behavior involving adaptive decision-making. A cultural strength approach based on maintaining balance has enormous potential to support the development of self-regulation. Many communities worldwide have practices that benefit the development of self-regulation, which have evolved mainly without specific knowledge of underlying neurobiological development. The variety of ways that different cultures use social support and cultural practices, including music, dance, crafts, art, healing, spirituality, and rituals, are beginning to reveal potential resources for supporting resilience in a way that also supports healthy brain and body development.

 

We seek startup companies that address self-regulation and that are easy-to-use and relatively unobtrusive so can be adopted by different communities. We will focus on companies that:

1) document data relevant to cultural practices that promote physiological/psychological regulation;

2) capture multi-modal data;

3) provide useful data visualization;

4) provide output for and/or onboard analyses.