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Comparing methods of analysis in pupillometry: application to the assessment of listening effort in hearing-impaired patients. Heliyon 2022; 8:e09631. [PMID: 35734572 PMCID: PMC9207619 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09631] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2021] [Revised: 12/26/2021] [Accepted: 05/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
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Tamati TN, Sevich VA, Clausing EM, Moberly AC. Lexical Effects on the Perceived Clarity of Noise-Vocoded Speech in Younger and Older Listeners. Front Psychol 2022; 13:837644. [PMID: 35432072 PMCID: PMC9010567 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.837644] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2021] [Accepted: 02/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
When listening to degraded speech, such as speech delivered by a cochlear implant (CI), listeners make use of top-down linguistic knowledge to facilitate speech recognition. Lexical knowledge supports speech recognition and enhances the perceived clarity of speech. Yet, the extent to which lexical knowledge can be used to effectively compensate for degraded input may depend on the degree of degradation and the listener's age. The current study investigated lexical effects in the compensation for speech that was degraded via noise-vocoding in younger and older listeners. In an online experiment, younger and older normal-hearing (NH) listeners rated the clarity of noise-vocoded sentences on a scale from 1 ("very unclear") to 7 ("completely clear"). Lexical information was provided by matching text primes and the lexical content of the target utterance. Half of the sentences were preceded by a matching text prime, while half were preceded by a non-matching prime. Each sentence also consisted of three key words of high or low lexical frequency and neighborhood density. Sentences were processed to simulate CI hearing, using an eight-channel noise vocoder with varying filter slopes. Results showed that lexical information impacted the perceived clarity of noise-vocoded speech. Noise-vocoded speech was perceived as clearer when preceded by a matching prime, and when sentences included key words with high lexical frequency and low neighborhood density. However, the strength of the lexical effects depended on the level of degradation. Matching text primes had a greater impact for speech with poorer spectral resolution, but lexical content had a smaller impact for speech with poorer spectral resolution. Finally, lexical information appeared to benefit both younger and older listeners. Findings demonstrate that lexical knowledge can be employed by younger and older listeners in cognitive compensation during the processing of noise-vocoded speech. However, lexical content may not be as reliable when the signal is highly degraded. Clinical implications are that for adult CI users, lexical knowledge might be used to compensate for the degraded speech signal, regardless of age, but some CI users may be hindered by a relatively poor signal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Terrin N. Tamati
- Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, United States
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Victoria A. Sevich
- Department of Speech and Hearing Science, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States
| | - Emily M. Clausing
- Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, United States
| | - Aaron C. Moberly
- Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, United States
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Reduced Semantic Context and Signal-to-Noise Ratio Increase Listening Effort As Measured Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy. Ear Hear 2021; 43:836-848. [PMID: 34623112 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000001137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Understanding speech-in-noise can be highly effortful. Decreasing the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of speech increases listening effort, but it is relatively unclear if decreasing the level of semantic context does as well. The current study used functional near-infrared spectroscopy to evaluate two primary hypotheses: (1) listening effort (operationalized as oxygenation of the left lateral PFC) increases as the SNR decreases and (2) listening effort increases as context decreases. DESIGN Twenty-eight younger adults with normal hearing completed the Revised Speech Perception in Noise Test, in which they listened to sentences and reported the final word. These sentences either had an easy SNR (+4 dB) or a hard SNR (-2 dB), and were either low in semantic context (e.g., "Tom could have thought about the sport") or high in context (e.g., "She had to vacuum the rug"). PFC oxygenation was measured throughout using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. RESULTS Accuracy on the Revised Speech Perception in Noise Test was worse when the SNR was hard than when it was easy, and worse for sentences low in semantic context than high in context. Similarly, oxygenation across the entire PFC (including the left lateral PFC) was greater when the SNR was hard, and left lateral PFC oxygenation was greater when context was low. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that activation of the left lateral PFC (interpreted here as reflecting listening effort) increases to compensate for acoustic and linguistic challenges. This may reflect the increased engagement of domain-general and domain-specific processes subserved by the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (e.g., cognitive control) and inferior frontal gyrus (e.g., predicting the sensory consequences of articulatory gestures), respectively.
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Russo FY, Hoen M, Karoui C, Demarcy T, Ardoint M, Tuset MP, De Seta D, Sterkers O, Lahlou G, Mosnier I. Pupillometry Assessment of Speech Recognition and Listening Experience in Adult Cochlear Implant Patients. Front Neurosci 2020; 14:556675. [PMID: 33240035 PMCID: PMC7677588 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2020.556675] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2020] [Accepted: 09/29/2020] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective The aim of the present study was to investigate the pupillary response to word identification in cochlear implant (CI) patients. Authors hypothesized that when task difficulty (i.e., addition of background noise) increased, pupil dilation markers such as the peak dilation or the latency of the peak dilation would increase in CI users, as already observed in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired subjects. Methods Pupillometric measures in 10 CI patients were combined to standard speech recognition scores used to evaluate CI outcomes, namely, speech audiometry in quiet and in noise at +10 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The main outcome measures of pupillometry were mean pupil dilation, maximal pupil dilation, dilation latency, and mean dilation during return to baseline or retention interval. Subjective hearing quality was evaluated by means of one self-reported fatigue questionnaire, and the Speech, Spatial, and Qualities (SSQ) of Hearing scale. Results All pupil dilation data were transformed to percent change in event-related pupil dilation (ERPD, %). Analyses show that the peak amplitudes for both mean pupil dilation and maximal pupil dilation were higher during the speech-in-noise test. Mean peak dilation was measured at 3.47 ± 2.29% noise vs. 2.19 ± 2.46 in quiet and maximal peak value was detected at 9.17 ± 3.25% in noise vs. 8.72 ± 2.93% in quiet. Concerning the questionnaires, the mean pupil dilation during the retention interval was significantly correlated with the spatial subscale score of the SSQ Hearing scale [r(8) = −0.84, p = 0.0023], and with the global score [r(8) = −0.78, p = 0.0018]. Conclusion The analysis of pupillometric traces, obtained during speech audiometry in quiet and in noise in CI users, provided interesting information about the different processes engaged in this task. Pupillometric measures could be indicative of listening difficulty, phoneme intelligibility, and were correlated with general hearing experience as evaluated by the SSQ of Hearing scale. These preliminary results show that pupillometry constitutes a promising tool to improve objective quantification of CI performance in clinical settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Yoshie Russo
- INSERM U1159 Réhabilitation Chirurgicale Mini-Invasive Robotisée De l'Audition, Paris, France.,Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris Sorbonne Université, Service Oto-Rhino-Laryngologie (ORL), Unité Fonctionnelle Implants Auditifs, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France.,Department of Sense Organs, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | | | | | | | | | - Maria-Pia Tuset
- Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris Sorbonne Université, Service Oto-Rhino-Laryngologie (ORL), Unité Fonctionnelle Implants Auditifs, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France
| | - Daniele De Seta
- INSERM U1159 Réhabilitation Chirurgicale Mini-Invasive Robotisée De l'Audition, Paris, France.,Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris Sorbonne Université, Service Oto-Rhino-Laryngologie (ORL), Unité Fonctionnelle Implants Auditifs, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France.,Department of Sense Organs, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Olivier Sterkers
- INSERM U1159 Réhabilitation Chirurgicale Mini-Invasive Robotisée De l'Audition, Paris, France.,Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris Sorbonne Université, Service Oto-Rhino-Laryngologie (ORL), Unité Fonctionnelle Implants Auditifs, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France
| | - Ghizlène Lahlou
- INSERM U1120 Génétique et Physiologie de l'Audition, Paris, France.,APHP Sorbonne Université, Service ORL, GH Pitié Salpêtrière, Paris, France
| | - Isabelle Mosnier
- INSERM U1159 Réhabilitation Chirurgicale Mini-Invasive Robotisée De l'Audition, Paris, France.,Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris Sorbonne Université, Service Oto-Rhino-Laryngologie (ORL), Unité Fonctionnelle Implants Auditifs, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France
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Pals C, Sarampalis A, Beynon A, Stainsby T, Başkent D. Effect of Spectral Channels on Speech Recognition, Comprehension, and Listening Effort in Cochlear-Implant Users. Trends Hear 2020; 24:2331216520904617. [PMID: 32189585 PMCID: PMC7082863 DOI: 10.1177/2331216520904617] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
In favorable listening conditions, cochlear-implant (CI) users can reach high
speech recognition scores with as little as seven active electrodes. Here, we
hypothesized that even when speech recognition is high, additional spectral
channels may still benefit other aspects of speech perception, such as
comprehension and listening effort. Twenty-five adult, postlingually deafened CI
users, selected from two Dutch implant centers for high clinical word
identification scores, participated in two experiments. Experimental conditions
were created by varying the number of active electrodes of the CIs between 7 and
15. In Experiment 1, response times (RTs) on the secondary task in a dual-task
paradigm were used as an indirect measure of listening effort, and in Experiment
2, sentence verification task (SVT) accuracy and RTs were used to measure speech
comprehension and listening effort, respectively. Speech recognition was near
ceiling for all conditions tested, as intended by the design. However, the
dual-task paradigm failed to show the hypothesized decrease in RTs with
increasing spectral channels. The SVT did show a systematic improvement in both
speech comprehension and response speed across all conditions. In conclusion,
the SVT revealed additional benefits in both speech comprehension and listening
effort for conditions in which high speech recognition was already achieved.
Hence, adding spectral channels may provide benefits for CI listeners that may
not be reflected by traditional speech tests. The SVT is a relatively simple
task that is easy to implement and may therefore be a good candidate for
identifying such additional benefits in research or clinical settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carina Pals
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, the Netherlands.,Research School of Behavioral and Cognitive Neurosciences, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
| | | | - Andy Beynon
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Hearing and Implants, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | | | - Deniz Başkent
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, the Netherlands.,Research School of Behavioral and Cognitive Neurosciences, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
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Nagels L, Bastiaanse R, Başkent D, Wagner A. Individual Differences in Lexical Access Among Cochlear Implant Users. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2020; 63:286-304. [PMID: 31855606 DOI: 10.1044/2019_jslhr-19-00192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Purpose The current study investigates how individual differences in cochlear implant (CI) users' sensitivity to word-nonword differences, reflecting lexical uncertainty, relate to their reliance on sentential context for lexical access in processing continuous speech. Method Fifteen CI users and 14 normal-hearing (NH) controls participated in an auditory lexical decision task (Experiment 1) and a visual-world paradigm task (Experiment 2). Experiment 1 tested participants' reliance on lexical statistics, and Experiment 2 studied how sentential context affects the time course and patterns of lexical competition leading to lexical access. Results In Experiment 1, CI users had lower accuracy scores and longer reaction times than NH listeners, particularly for nonwords. In Experiment 2, CI users' lexical competition patterns were, on average, similar to those of NH listeners, but the patterns of individual CI users varied greatly. Individual CI users' word-nonword sensitivity (Experiment 1) explained differences in the reliance on sentential context to resolve lexical competition, whereas clinical speech perception scores explained competition with phonologically related words. Conclusions The general analysis of CI users' lexical competition patterns showed merely quantitative differences with NH listeners in the time course of lexical competition, but our additional analysis revealed more qualitative differences in CI users' strategies to process speech. Individuals' word-nonword sensitivity explained different parts of individual variability than clinical speech perception scores. These results stress, particularly for heterogeneous clinical populations such as CI users, the importance of investigating individual differences in addition to group averages, as they can be informative for clinical rehabilitation. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.11368106.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leanne Nagels
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
- Center for Language and Cognition Groningen, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
| | - Roelien Bastiaanse
- Center for Language and Cognition Groningen, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
- National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia
| | - Deniz Başkent
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
- Research School of Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
| | - Anita Wagner
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
- Research School of Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
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Başkent D, Clarke J, Pals C, Benard MR, Bhargava P, Saija J, Sarampalis A, Wagner A, Gaudrain E. Cognitive Compensation of Speech Perception With Hearing Impairment, Cochlear Implants, and Aging. Trends Hear 2016. [PMCID: PMC5056620 DOI: 10.1177/2331216516670279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
External degradations in incoming speech reduce understanding, and hearing impairment further compounds the problem. While cognitive mechanisms alleviate some of the difficulties, their effectiveness may change with age. In our research, reviewed here, we investigated cognitive compensation with hearing impairment, cochlear implants, and aging, via (a) phonemic restoration as a measure of top-down filling of missing speech, (b) listening effort and response times as a measure of increased cognitive processing, and (c) visual world paradigm and eye gazing as a measure of the use of context and its time course. Our results indicate that between speech degradations and their cognitive compensation, there is a fine balance that seems to vary greatly across individuals. Hearing impairment or inadequate hearing device settings may limit compensation benefits. Cochlear implants seem to allow the effective use of sentential context, but likely at the cost of delayed processing. Linguistic and lexical knowledge, which play an important role in compensation, may be successfully employed in advanced age, as some compensatory mechanisms seem to be preserved. These findings indicate that cognitive compensation in hearing impairment can be highly complicated—not always absent, but also not easily predicted by speech intelligibility tests only.
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Affiliation(s)
- Deniz Başkent
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Netherlands
- Graduate School of Medical Sciences, University of Groningen, Netherlands
- Research School of Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences, University of Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Jeanne Clarke
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Netherlands
- Graduate School of Medical Sciences, University of Groningen, Netherlands
- Research School of Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences, University of Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Carina Pals
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Netherlands
- Graduate School of Medical Sciences, University of Groningen, Netherlands
- Research School of Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences, University of Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Michel R. Benard
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Netherlands
- Pento Speech and Hearing Center Zwolle, Zwolle, Netherlands
| | - Pranesh Bhargava
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Netherlands
- Graduate School of Medical Sciences, University of Groningen, Netherlands
- Research School of Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences, University of Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Jefta Saija
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Netherlands
- Graduate School of Medical Sciences, University of Groningen, Netherlands
- Research School of Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences, University of Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Anastasios Sarampalis
- Research School of Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences, University of Groningen, Netherlands
- Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Anita Wagner
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Netherlands
- Graduate School of Medical Sciences, University of Groningen, Netherlands
- Research School of Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences, University of Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Etienne Gaudrain
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Netherlands
- Graduate School of Medical Sciences, University of Groningen, Netherlands
- Research School of Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences, University of Groningen, Netherlands
- Auditory Cognition and Psychoacoustics, CNRS, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Lyon, France
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Wagner AE, Toffanin P, Başkent D. The Timing and Effort of Lexical Access in Natural and Degraded Speech. Front Psychol 2016; 7:398. [PMID: 27065901 PMCID: PMC4811892 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00398] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2015] [Accepted: 03/04/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding speech is effortless in ideal situations, and although adverse conditions, such as caused by hearing impairment, often render it an effortful task, they do not necessarily suspend speech comprehension. A prime example of this is speech perception by cochlear implant users, whose hearing prostheses transmit speech as a significantly degraded signal. It is yet unknown how mechanisms of speech processing deal with such degraded signals, and whether they are affected by effortful processing of speech. This paper compares the automatic process of lexical competition between natural and degraded speech, and combines gaze fixations, which capture the course of lexical disambiguation, with pupillometry, which quantifies the mental effort involved in processing speech. Listeners' ocular responses were recorded during disambiguation of lexical embeddings with matching and mismatching durational cues. Durational cues were selected due to their substantial role in listeners' quick limitation of the number of lexical candidates for lexical access in natural speech. Results showed that lexical competition increased mental effort in processing natural stimuli in particular in presence of mismatching cues. Signal degradation reduced listeners' ability to quickly integrate durational cues in lexical selection, and delayed and prolonged lexical competition. The effort of processing degraded speech was increased overall, and because it had its sources at the pre-lexical level this effect can be attributed to listening to degraded speech rather than to lexical disambiguation. In sum, the course of lexical competition was largely comparable for natural and degraded speech, but showed crucial shifts in timing, and different sources of increased mental effort. We argue that well-timed progress of information from sensory to pre-lexical and lexical stages of processing, which is the result of perceptual adaptation during speech development, is the reason why in ideal situations speech is perceived as an undemanding task. Degradation of the signal or the receiver channel can quickly bring this well-adjusted timing out of balance and lead to increase in mental effort. Incomplete and effortful processing at the early pre-lexical stages has its consequences on lexical processing as it adds uncertainty to the forming and revising of lexical hypotheses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anita E. Wagner
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, University of GroningenGroningen, Netherlands
- Graduate School of Medical Sciences, School of Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience, University of GroningenGroningen, Netherlands
| | - Paolo Toffanin
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, University of GroningenGroningen, Netherlands
| | - Deniz Başkent
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, University of GroningenGroningen, Netherlands
- Graduate School of Medical Sciences, School of Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience, University of GroningenGroningen, Netherlands
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