Paper List
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PanFoMa: A Lightweight Foundation Model and Benchmark for Pan-Cancer
This paper addresses the dual challenge of achieving computational efficiency without sacrificing accuracy in whole-transcriptome single-cell represen...
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Beyond Bayesian Inference: The Correlation Integral Likelihood Framework and Gradient Flow Methods for Deterministic Sampling
This paper addresses the core challenge of calibrating complex biological models (e.g., PDEs, agent-based models) with incomplete, noisy, or heterogen...
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Contrastive Deep Learning for Variant Detection in Wastewater Genomic Sequencing
This paper addresses the core challenge of detecting viral variants in wastewater sequencing data without reference genomes or labeled annotations, ov...
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SpikGPT: A High-Accuracy and Interpretable Spiking Attention Framework for Single-Cell Annotation
This paper addresses the core challenge of robust single-cell annotation across heterogeneous datasets with batch effects and the critical need to ide...
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Unlocking hidden biomolecular conformational landscapes in diffusion models at inference time
This paper addresses the core challenge of efficiently and accurately sampling the conformational landscape of biomolecules from diffusion-based struc...
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Learning From Limited Data and Feedback for Cell Culture Process Monitoring: A Comparative Study
This paper addresses the core challenge of developing accurate real-time bioprocess monitoring soft sensors under severe data constraints: limited his...
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Cell-cell communication inference and analysis: biological mechanisms, computational approaches, and future opportunities
This review addresses the critical need for a systematic framework to navigate the rapidly expanding landscape of computational methods for inferring ...
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Generating a Contact Matrix for Aged Care Settings in Australia: an agent-based model study
This study addresses the critical gap in understanding heterogeneous contact patterns within aged care facilities, where existing population-level con...
Decoding Selective Auditory Attention to Musical Elements in Ecologically Valid Music Listening
Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc, Tokyo, Japan
The 30-Second View
IN SHORT: This paper addresses the core challenge of objectively quantifying listeners' selective attention to specific musical components (e.g., vocals, drums, bass) during naturalistic music listening, a task previously hindered by the lack of overt behavioral correlates and reliance on simplified, non-ecological stimuli.
Innovation (TL;DR)
- Methodology First study to decode auditory attention using real, studio-produced, polyphonic songs across diverse genres (pop, rock, jazz, electronic), moving beyond simplified instrument tracks or synthetic mixtures.
- Methodology Demonstrates the practical feasibility of using a lightweight, four-channel consumer-grade EEG device (Muse2) for reliable neural decoding in an ecologically valid music listening paradigm.
- Biology Provides empirical evidence that a frontal–temporal four-electrode montage can effectively support the decoding of selective musical attention, offering insights into the neural correlates of auditory focus.
Key conclusions
- The 'Model: all-0 ms' (trained on all trials without EEG-audio delay) achieved the highest global decoding accuracy, significantly outperforming models trained only on high-attention trials ('attn-0 ms', p=1.89e-25) or with a 200ms delay ('all-200 ms', p=2.31e-19).
- The model demonstrated robust generalization, achieving a mean global accuracy of 86.41% across subjects for unseen songs and maintaining performance (mean 84.54%) even when evaluated only on trials where participants self-reported high attention.
- Decoding performance was stable across the four musical component tasks (Vocal, Drum, Bass, Others) in the best model, with task-level accuracy exceeding 80% for all tasks in the all-data evaluation, though performance on the Bass task was comparatively lower (65%) in the high-attention evaluation.
Abstract: Art has long played a profound role in shaping human emotion, cognition, and behavior. While visual arts such as painting and architecture have been studied through eye-tracking, revealing distinct gaze patterns between experts and novices, analogous methods for auditory art forms remain underdeveloped. Music, despite being a pervasive component of modern life and culture, still lacks objective tools to quantify listeners’ attention and perceptual focus during natural listening experiences. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to decode selective attention to musical elements using naturalistic, studio-produced songs and a lightweight consumer-grade EEG device with only four electrodes. By analyzing neural responses during real-world–like music listening, we test whether decoding is feasible under conditions that minimize participant burden and preserve the authenticity of the musical experience. Our contributions are fourfold: (i) decoding music attention in real studio-produced songs, (ii) demonstrating feasibility with a four-channel consumer EEG, (iii) providing insights for music attention decoding, and (iv) demonstrating improved model ability over prior work. Our findings suggest that musical attention can be decoded not only for novel songs but also across new subjects, showing performance improvements compared to existing approaches under our tested conditions. These findings show that consumer-grade devices can reliably capture signals, and that neural decoding in music could be feasible in real-world settings. This paves the way for applications in education, personalized music technologies, and therapeutic interventions.