Multimodal Evidence for the Effectiveness of a Digital Behaviour Change Platform: Behavioural, Biomarker, and EEG Outcomes in University Students

Authors

Dauphine, R., Rocha Hammerstrom, M., Krigolson, O. E.

Abstract

Digital behaviour change interventions have emerged as a promising approach for improving health, well-being, and performance, yet relatively few studies have evaluated their effects using objective biological and neurophysiological measures. The present study examined the effectiveness of Autonomic, a neuroscience-informed digital coaching platform designed to improve student well-being through personalized behavioural interventions targeting sleep, stress, mood, energy, and focus. Thirty university students engaged with the platform for ten weeks and completed behavioural assessments, biomarker collection, and electroencephalographic (EEG) testing at baseline, five weeks, and ten weeks. Behavioural outcomes included self-reported ratings of focus, energy, sleep, mood, and stress. Biological measures included salivary cortisol and tear fluid dopamine concentrations. EEG assessments included resting-state recordings, frontal theta activity during a working memory task, and N200/P300 event-related potentials during a visual oddball task. Significant improvements were observed in self-reported focus, energy, and sleep quality across the intervention. Electrophysiological measures demonstrated reduced frontal theta power during working memory and shorter P300 latencies during attentional processing, consistent with more efficient cognitive processing following the intervention. Although cortisol, dopamine, and resting-state EEG measures did not reach statistical significance, all exhibited changes in the predicted direction. Collectively, these findings provide converging behavioural, biological, and neurophysiological evidence supporting the effectiveness of Autonomic. More broadly, the study demonstrates the value of combining objective biomarkers and EEG with traditional behavioural assessments when evaluating digital behaviour change interventions and highlights the potential of neuroscience-informed coaching platforms to improve health, well-being, and cognitive functioning in university students.

Preprint server: bioRxiv
The authors list and abstract were imported from bioRxiv on 29 Jul 2026.

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