Ponte de Lima · Portugal
We build practical tools and systems that work with the ADHD brain, not against it — translating cutting-edge cognitive research into tools that help people think, focus, and thrive on their own terms.
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About Us
The Laboratory for Human Cognition was founded in Ponte de Lima, Portugal — not by accident, but by design. Its founders, after decades working at the intersection of technology and human productivity, came to a simple conclusion: the tools being built for people with ADHD were being built in the wrong environment, by the wrong assumptions, at the wrong pace.
The dominant model — fast, loud, notification-driven, optimized for engagement — was the opposite of what ADHD brains actually need. Building something different required stepping outside the culture that produced the problem.
Portugal offered something rare: a place where time moves differently, where a 900-year-old town still anchors daily life, where the architecture insists on permanence over disruption. The Laboratory's home in Ponte de Lima — the oldest continuously inhabited town in Portugal — sits on a working agricultural property, surrounded by vineyards that have been tended across generations. It is a place that understands patience, cultivation, and the long view.
That is exactly the disposition required to build tools that actually work with the human brain — not tools that exploit it.
The Founders
AJ Herrera
Managing Director
As Executive Director of the Laboratory for Human Cognition, AJ Herrera applies three decades of enterprise technology and communications leadership to the goal of turning cognitive science research into practical executive function support for adults. Drawing on an extensive career leading high-performance teams at global organizations including Cloudflare and VMware, he brings deep strategy and operational experience to the laboratory's mission.
Rick Scherle
Technical Director
As founder and Technical Director of the Laboratory for Human Cognition, Rick Scherle brings decades of expertise in technical leadership, product development, and organizational strategy. His contributions span early digital watch designs, hardware engineering for NASA interplanetary spacecraft, engineering leadership on floppy disk drives and daisy wheel printing, co-invention of disk defragmentation software, pioneering UX work on Apple Macintosh systems and Logitech handheld scanners, and leadership of the State of Utah Technology Centers of Excellence. His most recent invention is the ATEND System for executive function support. Rick was diagnosed with ADHD at age 57.