A birthday is a good time to reflect! To mark SPM @ 30, this month's issue of Cerebral Cortex features deeply insightful commentaries on neuroimaging analysis from Ed Bullmore, Peter Bandettini, Peter Fox, Pedro Valdes-Sosa, Klaas Enno Stephan, Viktor Jirsa, et al [1/2] academic.oup.com/cercor/issue

This is useful for real-world applications of voice familiarisation, which may be particularly appealing to older adults who find it difficult to understand speech in noisy places. Check out the full paper here: bit.ly/4oeDPFG [5/5]

We found that both groups found trained voices more intelligible than unfamiliar voices. Therefore, these findings show that older adults can learn new voices as effectively as younger participants. [4/5]

In addition, we've previously shown that we can train new voices in the lab to become familiar and produce this intelligibility benefit for newly trained voices. In our new study, we compared groups of older (55–73 years) and younger (18–34 years) participants. [3/5]

Previous research has shown that speech is more intelligible when it is spoken by someone familiar (e.g., a friend or family member), compared with someone unfamiliar. [2/5]

New paper alert: "Computer-based voice familiarization, delivered remotely using an online platform, improves speech intelligibility for older and younger adults" bit.ly/4oeDPFG [see thread: 1/5] @uclpals.bsky.social @uclbrainscience.bsky.social @wellcometrust.bsky.social @apajournals.bsky.social

Congrats Han! 🎉

Closing tomorrow! Apply for my fully-funded PhD studentship, open to UK students

Deadline extended for my fully-funded #PhD position - apply by 7th May! Come and work with me & join the UCL Cognitive Hearing Lab: bit.ly/3RAEYZ8 The studentship is funded by RNID and will help make noisy environments easier for people with hearing loss

Less than 2 weeks left to apply for my open PhD position!

New *Funded PhD opportunity* for UK students to work with me at UCL (London), researching auditory training interventions to improve speech understanding in noisy environments. Deadline 28th April. Full details and job description: bit.ly/4ccbbzj @uclpals.bsky.social [please share]

Today marks the start of #BrainAwarenessWeek, a global celebration of the incredible advancements and benefits of brain research. Stay tuned all week as we explore the latest cutting-edge work from the brilliant minds across our Faculty. #UCLBrainSciences buff.ly/4i3aA5M

Finally made the move to BlueSky