Rhythm & Brains Lab
ions | Bruxelles Woluwe, Louvain-la-Neuve
Research
Musical rhythm is a cross-cultural, non-verbal means of communication that has the power to make us move. Therefore, understanding the neural processing of musical rhythm can provide key insight at the intersection between basic neuroscience research, humanities and the arts. It is also increasingly proven successful to develop effective strategies for the functional evaluation and rehabilitation of pathological conditions as diverse as hearing impairment, cochlear implants, epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease.
Our goal is to understand how the human brain is able to make sense of and produce musical rhythm. Key questions that we address in our research are how this ability for rhythm is influenced by culture, individual differences, or body movement. Moreover, we investigate how our ability for musical rhythm is embodied in a network of brain areas, and how entraining to musical rhythm can help brain-damaged patients to recover from sensory or motor deficits.
To address these fascinating questions, we use functional neuroimaging techniques (scalp and intracerebral electroencephalography, functional magnetic resonance imaging) combined with novel techniques to selectively tag the brain activity in response to rhythmic inputs such as music, rhythmic visual displays, rhythmic tactile input or rhythmic movement of the body.
The Rhythm & Brains Lab is an enthusiastic and highly diverse group currently hosting post-doctoral fellows, and PhD students, including audiologists, ENT doctors, psychologists, physiotherapists and biomedical engineers from five different nationalities. The team is sponsored by local, national and international funding bodies including ERC, FNRS and UCLouvain, and also the Australian Research Council, promoting our collaborations within and outside Europe.
Publications
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Article de journalValentin, O., Foster, N. E. V., Intartaglia, B., Prud’homme, M.-A., Schönwiesner, M., Nozaradan, S., & Lehmann, A. (2025). Intact sensorimotor rhythm abilities but altered audiovisual integration in cochlear implant users. PLoS One, 20(4), e0320815. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0320815 (Original work published 2025)
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Coulon, E., Baum, S., Lenc, T., Polak, R., & Nozaradan, S. (2025). Neural representation of the musical beat is facilitated but not contingent on the repetition of rhythmic patterns. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. Bureau of Scientific Services. Annual Report. Accepted/in-press. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-30780-1 (Original work published 2025)
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Criscuolo, A., Schwartze, M., Nozaradan, S., & Kotz, S. A. (2025). Basal ganglia and cerebellar lesions causally impact the neural encoding of temporal regularities. Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.), 3. https://doi.org/10.1162/imag_a_00492 (Original work published 2025)
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Lenoir, C., Lenc, T., Polak, R., & Nozaradan, S. (2025). Behavior-Relevant Periodized Neural Representation of Acoustic But Not Tactile Rhythm in Humans. The Journal of Neuroscience, 45(46). https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0664-25.2025 (Original work published 2025)
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Varlet, M., Nozaradan, S., & Keller, P. E. (2025). Dynamic neural processing of self-other synchronization error in interpersonal coordination. iScience, 28(12), 114081. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.114081 (Original work published 2025)
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Lenoir, C., Tomas, L., Rainer, P., & Nozaradan, S. (2025). Behavior-relevant periodized neural representation of acoustic but not tactile rhythm in humans. The Journal of Neuroscience, e0664252025. https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.0664-25.2025 (Original work published 2025)
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Lenc, T., Lenoir, C., Keller, P. E., Polak, R., Mulders, D., & Nozaradan, S. (2025). Measuring self-similarity in empirical signals to understand musical beat perception. European Journal of Neuroscience, 61(2), e16637. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.16637 (Original work published 2025)
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Article de journalBarbero, F., Lenc, T., Jacoby, N., Polak, R., Varlet, M., & Nozaradan, S. (2024). Revealing rhythm categorization in human brain activity. Science advances. Published. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adu9838 (Original work published 2024)
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Esposito, G., Nozaradan, S., Kuzminova, A., Collignon, O., & Mouraux, A. (2024). Processing the fine-grained features of tactile textures involves the primary somatosensory cortex. Imaging neuroscience, 2, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1162/imag_a_00341 (Original work published 2024)
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Papier de conférenceBarbero, F., Lenc, T., Jacoby, N., Polak, R., Varlet, M., & Nozaradan, S. (2024). Capturing rhythm categorisation in the human brain across cortical and subcortical auditory signals. Neurosciences and Music - wiring, re-wiring, and well-being, Helsinki, Finland.
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Article de journalVarlet, M., Nozaradan, S., Schmidt, R. C., & Keller, P. E. (2023). Neural tracking of visual periodic motion. European Journal of Neuroscience, 57(7), 1081-1097. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.15934 (Original work published 2023)
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Lenc, T., Peter, V., Hooper, C., Keller, P. E., Burnham, D., & Nozaradan, S. (2023). Infants show enhanced neural responses to musical meter frequencies beyond low-level features. Developmental science, 26(5), e13353 [1-15]. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13353 (Original work published 2023)
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Lapenta, O. M., Keller, P. E., Nozaradan, S., & Varlet, M. (2023). Spatial and temporal (non)binding of audiovisual rhythms in sensorimotor synchronisation. Experimental Brain Research, 241(3), 875-887. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-023-06569-x (Original work published 2023)
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Papier de conférenceLenc, T., Jonas, J., Rossion, B., Colnat-Coulbois, S., & Nozaradan, S. (2023). Intracerebral recordings reveal emphasized representation of musical meter across auditory and sensory-motor associative areas of the human brain. Rhythm Production and Perception Workshop, Nottingham, UK.
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Lenc, T., Jonas, J., Rossion, B., Colnat-Coulbois, S., & Nozaradan, S. (2023). Intracerebral recordings reveal enhanced representation of musical beat across auditory and sensory-motor associative areas of the human brain. 3rd Conference of the Timing Research Forum, Lisbon, Portugal.
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Barbero, F., Lenc, T., Jacoby, N., & Nozaradan, S. (2023). Capturing categorical representation of rhythmic patterns using electroencephalography. Timing Research Forum TRF3, Lisbon, Portugal.
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Article de journalNijhuis, P., Keller, P. E., Nozaradan, S., & Varlet, M. (2022). Null effects of musical groove on cortico-muscular coherence during isometric contraction. Neuroimage: Reports, 2(1), 100075 [1-15]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ynirp.2021.100075 (Original work published 2022)
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Lapenta, O. M., Keller, P. E., Nozaradan, S., & Varlet, M. (2022). Lateralised dynamic modulations of corticomuscular coherence associated with bimanual learning of rhythmic patterns. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 6271 [1-11]. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-10342-5 (Original work published 2022)
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Sifuentes-Ortega, R., Lenc, T., Nozaradan, S., & Peigneux, P. (2022). Partially Preserved Processing of Musical Rhythms in REM but Not in NREM Sleep. Cerebral Cortex, 32(7), 1508-1519. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhab303 (Original work published 2022)
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Sauvé, S. A., Bolt, E. L. W., Nozaradan, S., & Zendel, B. R. (2022). Aging effects on neural processing of rhythm and meter. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 14, 848608 [1-16]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2022.848608 (Original work published 2022)
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Article de journalAlemi, R., Nozaradan, S., & Lehmann, A. (2021). Free-Field Cortical Steady-State Evoked Potentials in Cochlear Implant Users. Brain Topography : journal of functional neurophysiology, 34(5), 664-680. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-021-00860-2 (Original work published 2021)
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Nijhuis, P., Keller, P. E., Nozaradan, S., & Varlet, M. (2021). Dynamic modulation of cortico-muscular coupling during real and imagined sensorimotor synchronisation. NeuroImage, 238, 118209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118209 (Original work published 2021)
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Lenc, T., Merchant, H., Keller, P. E., Honing, H., Varlet, M., & Nozaradan, S. (2021). Mapping between sound, brain and behaviour: four-level framework for understanding rhythm processing in humans and non-human primates. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 376(1835), 20200325. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0325 (Original work published 2021)
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Chang, A., Bedoin, N., Canette, L.-H., Nozaradan, S., Thompson, D., Corneyllie, A., Tillmann, B., & Trainor, L. J. (2021). Atypical beta power fluctuation while listening to an isochronous sequence in dyslexia. Clinical Neurophysiology., 132(10), 2384-2390. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2021.05.037 (Original work published 2021)
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Papier de conférenceLenc, T., Keller, P. E., Varlet, M., & Nozaradan, S. (2021). Selective enhancement of metric periodicities in brain response to naturalistic music : reproducibility and transformation beyond low-level auditory processing. NeucoCog, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium.
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Lenc, T., Keller, P. E., Varlet, M., & Nozaradan, S. (2021). Selective enhancement of metric periodicities in brain response to naturalistic music: reproducibility and transformation beyond low-level auditory processing. Rhythm Production and Perception Workshop, Oslo, Norway.
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Article de journalBouvet, C. J., Bardy, B. G., Keller, P. E., Dalla Bella, S., Nozaradan, S., & Varlet, M. (2020). Accent-induced Modulation of Neural and Movement Patterns during Spontaneous Synchronization to Auditory Rhythms. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 32(12), 2260-2271. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_01605 (Original work published 2020)
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Varlet, M., Nozaradan, S., Trainor, L., & Keller, P. E. (2020). Dynamic Modulation of Beta Band Cortico-Muscular Coupling Induced by Audio-Visual Rhythms. Cerebral Cortex, 1(1), tgaa043. https://doi.org/10.1093/texcom/tgaa043 (Original work published 2020)
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Lenc, T., Keller, P. E., Varlet, M., & Nozaradan, S. (2020). Neural and Behavioral Evidence for Frequency-Selective Context Effects in Rhythm Processing in Humans. Cerebral cortex communications, 1(1), tgaa037. https://doi.org/10.1093/texcom/tgaa037 (Original work published 2020)
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Papier de conférenceLenc, T., Keller, P. E., Varlet, M., & Nozaradan, S. (2019). Hysteresis in the selective synchronization of brain activity to perceived meter in musical rhythms. Rhythm Production and Perception Workshop, Traverse City, MI.
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Article de journalVarlet, M., Nozaradan, S., Nijhuis, P., & Keller, P. E. (2019). Neural tracking and integration of ‘self’ and ‘other’ in improvised interpersonal coordination. NeuroImage, 116303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116303 (Original work published 2019)
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Lenc, T., Keller, P. E., Varlet, M., & Nozaradan, S. (2019). Reply to Rajendran and Schnupp: Frequency tagging is sensitive to the temporal structure of signals. Proceedings of the National academy of sciences of the United States of America, 116(8), 2781-2782. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1820941116 (Original work published 2019)
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Papier de conférenceLenc, T., Keller, P. E., Varlet, M., & Nozaradan, S. (2018). Neural tracking of the musical beat is enhanced by low-frequency sounds. Meter Symposium, Sydney, Australia.
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Lenc, T., Keller, P. E., Varlet, M., & Nozaradan, S. (2018). Neural tracking of the musical beat is enhanced by low-frequency sounds. Annual Meeting of the Australasian Society for Experimental Psychology, Hobart, Australia.
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Article de journalLenc, T., Keller, P. E., Varlet, M., & Nozaradan, S. (2018). Reply to Novembre and Iannetti: Conceptual and methodological issues. Proceedings of the National academy of sciences of the United States of America, 115(47), E11004. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1815750115 (Original work published 2018)
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Nozaradan, S., Schönwiesner, M., Keller, P. E., Lenc, T., & Lehmann, A. (2018). Neural bases of rhythmic entrainment in humans: critical transformation between cortical and lower-level representations of auditory rhythm. European Journal of Neuroscience, 47(4), 321-332. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.13826 (Original work published 2018)
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Lenc, T., Keller, P. E., Varlet, M., & Nozaradan, S. (2018). Neural tracking of the musical beat is enhanced by low-frequency sounds. Proceedings of the National academy of sciences of the United States of America, 115(32), 8221-8226. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1801421115 (Original work published 2018)
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Derosiere, G., Klein, P.-A., Nozaradan, S., Zenon, A., Mouraux, A., & Duque, J. (2018). Visuomotor Correlates of Conflict Expectation in the Context of Motor Decisions. The Journal of Neuroscience, 38(44), 9486-9504. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0623-18.2018 (Original work published 2018)
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Article de journalNozaradan, S., Keller, P. E., Rossion, B., & Mouraux, A. (2017). EEG Frequency-Tagging and Input-Output Comparison in Rhythm Perception. Brain Topography : journal of functional neurophysiology. Published. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-017-0605-8 (Original work published 2017)
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Nozaradan, S., Schwartze, M., Obermeier, C., & Kotz, S. A. (2017). Specific contributions of basal ganglia and cerebellum to the neural tracking of rhythm. Cortex, 95, 156-168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2017.08.015 (Original work published 2017)
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Nozaradan, S., Mouraux, A., Jonas, J., Colnat-Coulbois, S., Rossion, B., & Maillard, L. (2017). Intracerebral evidence of rhythm transform in the human auditory cortex. Brain Structure and Function, 222(5), 2389-2404. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-016-1348-0 (Original work published 2017)
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Nozaradan, S., Mouraux, A., & Cousineau, M. (2017). Frequency tagging to track the neural processing of contrast in fast, continuous sound sequences. Journal of Neurophysiology, 118(1), 243-253. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00971.2016 (Original work published 2017)
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Papier de conférenceDerosiere, G., Klein, P.-A., Nozaradan, S., Mouraux, A., Zenon, A., & Duque, J. (2017). Impact of conflict expectation on selective attention and action selection processes during motor decisions: an EEG study. Front. Neurosci. Conference Proceedings: 12th National Congress of the Belgian Society for Neuroscience., 1(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.3389/conf.fnins.2017.94.00121 (Original work published 2017)
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Lenc, T., Keller, P. E., Varlet, M., & Nozaradan, S. (2017). Effect of tone frequency on neural entrainment to rhythm: Superior role of bass. 3rd Conference of the Australian Music & Psychology Society, Brisbane, Australia.
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Article de journalNozaradan, S., Peretz, I., & Keller, P. E. (2016). Individual Differences in Rhythmic Cortical Entrainment Correlate with Predictive Behavior in Sensorimotor Synchronization. Scientific Reports, 6(20612), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep20612 (Original work published 2016)
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Cirelli, L. K., Spinelli, C., Nozaradan, S., & Trainor, L. J. (2016). Measuring Neural Entrainment to Beat and Meter in Infants: Effects of Music Background. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 10, 229. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2016.00229 (Original work published 2016)
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Nozaradan, S., Schönwiesner, M., Caron-Desrochers, L., & Lehmann, A. (2016). Enhanced brainstem and cortical encoding of sound during synchronized movement. NeuroImage, 142, 231-240. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.07.015 (Original work published 2016)
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Papier de conférenceWarlop, T., Chemin, B., Cambier, C., Nozaradan, S., Detrembleur, C., Crevecoeur, F., Stoquart, G., Jeanjean, A., & Lejeune, T. (2015). Does metronome really help timing gait in Parkinson’s disease? Annals of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, 58s(58s), e73-e77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rehab.2015.07.180 (Original work published 2015)
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Article de journalNozaradan, S. (2014). Exploring how musical rhythm entrains brain activity with electroencephalogram frequency-tagging. Philosophical transactions. Biological sciences / Royal Society of London, 369(1658). https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0393 (Original work published 2014)
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Chemin, B., Mouraux, A., & Nozaradan, S. (2014). Body Movement Selectively Shapes the Neural Representation of Musical Rhythms. Psychological Science, 25(12), 2147-2159. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614551161 (Original work published 2014)
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Papier de conférenceNozaradan, S., Chemin, B., & Mouraux, A. (2013). From sounds to movement and back : how movement shapes internal representation of musical rhythms. 14th Rhythm Production and Perception Workshop Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
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Article de journalNozaradan, S., Zerouali, Y., Peretz, I., & Mouraux, A. (2013). Capturing with EEG the neural entrainment and coupling underlying sensorimotor synchronization to the beat. Cerebral Cortex. Published. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bht261 (Original work published 2013)
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Article de journalNozaradan, S., Peretz, I., & Mouraux, A. (2012). Selective neuronal entrainment to the beat and meter embedded in a musical rhythm. The Journal of Neuroscience, 32, 17572-17581. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3203-12.2012 (Original work published 2012)
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Nozaradan, S., Peretz, I., & Mouraux, A. (2012). Steady-state evoked potentials as an index of multisensory temporal binding. NeuroImage, 60(1), 21-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.11.065 (Original work published 2012)
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Colon, E., Nozaradan, S., Legrain, V., & Mouraux, A. (2012). Steady-state evoked potentials to tag specific components of nociceptive cortical processing. NeuroImage, 60(1), 571-581. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.12.015 (Original work published 2012)
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Papier de conférenceNozaradan, S. (2012). Selective neuronal synchronization to the beat and meter embedded in a musical rhythm. Perspective on Rhythm and Timing Workshop, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
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Papier de conférenceNozaradan, S. (2011). Tagging the neuronal entrainment to beat and meter as steady-state evoked potentials. Rhythm perception and production workshop, Max Planck Institute for Cognitive and Human Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
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Huart, C., Mouraux, A., Nozaradan, S., Deggouj, N., & Rombaux, P. (2011). Neurophysiologie ORL: au delà du moyennage classique. Investigations cliniques en Oto-rhino-laryngologie, Bruxelles.
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Mouraux, A., GianDominico Iannetti, Colon, E., Nozaradan, S., Legrain, V., & Plaghki, L. (2011). Nociceptive steady-state evoked potentials. 20th Neuromeeting Burgundy, Beaune.
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Nozaradan, S. (2011). Neuronal entrainment to beat and meter. ANT Neuromeeting, Burgundy, France.
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Colon, E., Nozaradan, S., Legrain, V., & Mouraux, A. (2011). Nociceptive and non-nociceptive steady-state evoked potentials tag distinct cortical network. Laser Talks, Alborg, Denmark.
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Article de journalMouraux, A., Iannetti, G. D., Colon, E., Nozaradan, S., Legrain, V., & Plaghki, L. (2011). Nociceptive steady-state evoked potentials elicited by rapid periodic thermal stimulation of cutaneous nociceptors. The Journal of Neuroscience, 31(16), 6079-6087. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3977-10.2011 (Original work published 2011)
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Phillips-Silver, J., Toiviainen, P., Gosselin, N., Piché, O., Nozaradan, S., Palmer, C., & Peretz, I. (2011). Born to dance but beat deaf: a new form of congenital amusia. Neuropsychologia, 49, 961-969. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.02.002 (Original work published 2011)
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Nozaradan, S., Peretz, I., Missal, M., & Mouraux, A. (2011). Tagging the neuronal entrainment to beat and meter. The Journal of Neuroscience, 31(28), 10234-10240. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0411-11.2011 (Original work published 2011)
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Papier de conférenceNozaradan, S. (2010). Tagging the neuronal entrainment to beat and meter: a steady-state evoked potential approach. Belgian Brain Council, Brussels, Belgium.
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Article de journalde Hemptinne, C., Nozaradan, S., Duvivier, Q., Lefèvre, P., & Missal, M. (2007). How do primates anticipate uncertain future events? The Journal of Neuroscience, 27(16), 4334-4341. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0388-07.2007 (Original work published 2007)
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