The new study, published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, is the culmination of years of work homing on the parts of the brain responsible for cognitive control. Impairments to cognitive control can be found in a number of mental health disorders, from depression to obsessive control disorder (OCD).

These cognitive control deficits manifest in inflexible thought processes. Alik Widge, from the University of Minnesota Medical School, says the inability to easily shift from one thought process to another is a key feature of many mental illnesses.

"An example might include a person with depression who just can't get out of a 'stuck' negative thought," says Widge. "Because it is so central to mental illness, finding a way to improve it could be a powerful new way to treat those illnesses."