Key Publications

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Müller, T., Klein-Flügge, M. C., Manohar, S. G., Husain, M., & Apps, M. A. (2021). Neural and computational mechanisms of momentary fatigue and persistence in effort-based choice. Nature Communications, 12(1), 1-14. Web

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Le Heron, C., Kolling, N., Plant, O., Kienast, A., Janska, R., Fallon, S., Husain, M., & Apps, M.A.J. (2020) Dopamine drives dynamic decisions during human reward foraging. Journal of Neuroscience. Web

 

Lockwood, P.L., Hamonet, M., Zhang, S., Salmony, F., Ratnavel, A., Husain, M., & Apps, M.A.J. (2017). Prosocial apathy when helping others is too much effort.  Nature Human Behaviour. PDF

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Chong, T-J. T.*, Apps, M.A.J.*, Sillence, A., Giehl, K., Grima, L., & Husain, M. (2017). Neurocomputational mechanisms of subjective motivation of effort costs.  PLoS Biology. *equal contributors. DATA. PDF. 

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Apps, M.A.J., Rushworth, M.F.S., Chang, S.W.C. (2016). The anterior cingulate gyrus and social cognition: tracking the motivation of others. Neuron. PDF

 

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Preprints

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​Scholey, E., Lugtmeijer, S., Apps., M.A.J. (2024). The neuroeconomics of work: Computational and neural mechanisms of the dynamics of effort-based decisions. PsyArXiv.

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​Contreras-Huerta, L.S., Yu, H., Prosser A.M.B., Lockwood, L., Crockett., M, Apps, M.A.J. (2024). Hypocritical blame is associated with reduced prosocial motivation. PsyArXiv

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Cutler, J., Contreras-Huerta, L.S., Todorova, B., ... Apps, M.A.J., & Lockwood, P. (2024). Psychological interventions increase motivation to exert effort to mitigate climate change. PsyArXiv

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Pisauro, A., Pollicino, D., Fisher, L., & Apps, M.A.J. (2024). Neural and computational mechanisms of effort under the pressure of a deadline. bioRxiv

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2025

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Morelli, M., Dudzikowska, K., Deelchand, D.K., Quinn, A.J., Mullins, P.G., Apps, M.A.J., & Wilson, M. (2024). Functional Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of Prolonged Motor Activation using Conventional and Spectral GLM Analyses. Imaging Neuroscience, 3, imag_a_00452. Link.

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Talbot, J., Cutler, J., Tamm, M., Little, S. J., Harmer, C. J., Husain, M., Lockwood, P.L., & Apps, M. A. (2025). Dopamine boosts motivation for prosocial effort in Parkinson’s disease. Journal of Neuroscience.

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2024

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​Su, Z., Garvert, M. M., Zhang, L., Manohar, S. G., Vogel, T. A., Thomas, L., Apps, M. A. & Lockwood, P. L. (2024). Older adults are relatively more susceptible to impulsive social influence than young adults. Communications Psychology, 2(1), 87. Link

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Contreras-Huerta, L. S., Pisauro, A., Kuechenhoff, S., Gekiere, A., Le Heron, C., Lockwood, P., & Apps, M. A. (2024). A reward self-bias leads to more optimal foraging for ourselves than others. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 26845. Link. 

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​Morris, L.A., Horne, K.L., Manohar, S., Paermentier, L., Buchanan, C., MacAskill, M., Myall, D., Apps, M., Roxburgh, R., Anderson, T. & Husain, M. (2024). Decision cost hypersensitivity underlies Huntington’s disease apathy. Brain. Link

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Hoy, C.W., de Hemptinne, C., Wang, S.S., Harmer, C.J., Apps, M.A.J., Husain, M., Starr, P.A., & Little, S. (2024). Beta and theta oscillations track effort and previous reward in human basal ganglia and prefrontal cortex during decision making. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(31). Link

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Lockwood, P.L., Cutler, J., Drew, D., Abdurahman, A., Jeyaretna, D.S., Apps, M.A.J., Husain, M., & Manohar, S.G. (2024). Human ventromedial prefrontal cortex is necessary for prosocial motivation. Nature Human Behaviour. Link

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Gabay, A. S., Pisauro, A., O'Nell, K., & Apps, M. A. (2024). Social environment-based opportunity costs dictate when people leave social interactions. Communications Psychology, 2(42). Link

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Vlasceanu, M., Doell, K. C., Bak Coleman, J. B., Todorova, B., Berkebile-Weinberg, M. M., Grayson, S. J., Patel, Y., Goldwert, D., Pei, Y., Chakroff, A., … Apps, M.A.J., … & Van Bavel, J. J. (2024). Addressing climate change with behavioural science: A global intervention tournament in 63 countries. Science Advances, 10(6). Link 

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Forbes, P., Aydogan, G., Braunstein, J., Todorova, B., Wagner, I., Lockwood, P., Apps, M. A., Ruff, C., & Lamm, C. (2024). Acute stress reduces effortful prosocial behaviour. eLife, 12, RP87271. Link

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Gaule, A., Martin, P., Lockwood, P.L., Cutler, J., Apps, M., Roberts, R., Phillips, H., Brown, K., McCrory, E.J., & Viding, E. (2024). Reduced prosocial motivation and effort in adolescents with conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Link

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2023

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Azevedo, F., Pavlović, T., ..., Apps, M.A., ... & Sampaio, W.M. (2023). Social and moral psychology of COVID-19 across 69 countries. Scientific Data. Link

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Ricciardi, L., Apps, M.A., & Little, S. (2023). Uncovering the neurophysiology of mood, motivation and behavioral symptoms in Parkinson’s disease through intracranial recordings. npj Parkinson's Disease. Link

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Matthews, J., Pisauro, M. A., Jurgelis, M., Mueller, T., Vassena, E., Chong, T., & Apps, M. A. J. (2023). Computational mechanisms underlying the dynamics of physical and cognitive fatigue. Cognition, 105603. Link

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Contreras-Huerta, L. S., Coll, M. P., Bird, G., Yu, H., Prosser, A., Lockwood, P. L., ... & Apps, M. A. (2023). Neural representations of vicarious rewards are linked to interoception and prosocial behaviour. NeuroImage, 119881. Link

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2022

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Cutler, J., Apps, M. A., & Lockwood, P. (2022). Reward processing and reinforcement learning: from adolescence to aging. Encyclopedia of the Human Brain (Second Edition), 305-323. Link

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Pisauro, M. A., Fouragnan, E. F., Arabadzhiyska, D. H., Apps, M. A. J.*, & Philiastides, M. G.* (2022). Neural implementation of computational mechanisms underlying the continuous trade-off between cooperation and competition. Nature Communications, 13(1), 1-18. * equal contributors. Link

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Müller, T., Husain, M., & Apps, M. A. (2022). Preferences for seeking effort or reward information bias the willingness to work. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 19486. Link

 

Van Bavel, J. J., Cichocka, A., Capraro, V., Sjåstad, H., Nezlek, J. B., Pavlović, T., ... Apps, M. A, ... & Jørgensen, F. J. (2022). National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic. Nature communications, 13(1), 1-14. Web

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Pavlović, T., Azevedo, F., De, K., Riaño-Moreno, J. C., Maglić, M., Gkinopoulos, T., ... Apps, M. A, ... & Keudel, O. (2022). Predicting attitudinal and behavioral responses to COVID-19 pandemic using machine learning. PNAS Nexus. Link

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Yu, H., Contreras-Huerta, L. S., Prosser, A. M., Apps, M. A., Hofmann, W., Sinnott-Armstrong, W., & Crockett, M. J. (2022). Neural and cognitive signatures of guilt predict hypocritical blame. Psychological Science, 09567976221122765. Link

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Lockwood, P. L., Wittmann, M. K., Nili, H., Matsumoto-Ryan, M., Abdurahman, A., Cutler, J., ... & Apps, M. A. (2022). Distinct neural representations for prosocial and self-benefiting effort. Current Biology. Link

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Scholey, E., & Apps, M. A. (2022). Fatigue: Tough days at work change your prefrontal metabolites. Current Biology, 32(16), R876-R879. Link

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2021

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Müller, T., Klein-Flügge, M. C., Manohar, S. G., Husain, M., & Apps, M. A. (2021). Neural and computational mechanisms of momentary fatigue and persistence in effort-based choice. Nature Communications, 12(1), 1-14. Web

 

Lockwood, P.L., Abdurahman, A., Tamm, M., Gabay, A., Husain, M., & Apps, M.A.J., (2021). Ageing increases prosocial motivation for effort. Psychological Science. Link

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Nitschke, J. P., Forbes, P. A., Ali, N., Cutler, J., Apps, M. A., Lockwood, P. L., & Lamm, C. (2021). Resilience during uncertainty? Greater social connectedness during COVID‐19 lockdown is associated with reduced distress and fatigue. British Journal of Health Psychology, 26(2), 553-569. Web

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2020

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Contreras-Huerta, L. S., Pisauro, A., & Apps, M. A. (2020). Effort shapes social cognition and behaviour: A neuro-cognitive framework. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. Link

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Lockwood, P.L., Apps, M.A.J.* & Chang, S.W.C.* (2020). Is there a social brain? Implementations and Algorithms. Trends in Cognitive Sciences * equal contributors. Link

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Lockwood P.L., O’Nell K.C., Apps M.A.J (2020) Anterior cingulate cortex: A brain system necessary for learning to reward others? PLoS Biol 18(6): e3000735. Link

 

Gabay, A. S., & Apps, M. A. (2021). Foraging optimally in social neuroscience: computations and methodological considerations. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 16(8), 782-794. Link

 

Le Heron, C., Kolling, N., Plant, O., Kienast, A., Janska, R., Fallon, S., Husain, M., & Apps, M.A.J., (2020) Dopamine drives dynamic decisions during human reward foraging. Journal of Neuroscience. Link

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Contreras-Huerta, L., Bird, G., Lockwood, P., Apps, M.,* & Crockett, M.*  (2020) Prosocial behaviour is associated with transdiagnostic markers of affective sensitivity in multiple domains. Emotion. * equal contributors  https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2020-54566-001.html

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2019

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Müller, T., & Apps, M. A. (2019). Motivational fatigue: A neurocognitive framework for the impact of effortful exertion on subsequent motivation. Neuropsychologia, 123, 141-151. PDF

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2018

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Lockwood PL, Wittmann MK, Apps MAJ, Klein-Flügge MC, Crockett MJ, Humphreys GW, Rushworth MFS (2018): Neural mechanisms for learning self and other ownership. Nature Communications. PDF 

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Apps, M.A. (2018) Stimulating Cingulate: Distinct behaviours arise from discrete zones. Brain. PDF

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Chong, T., Apps, M.A., Giehl, K., Hall, S., Clifton, C., Husain, M. (2018) Computational modelling reveals distinct patterns of cognitive and physical motivation in elite athletes. Scientific Reports . PDF

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Weiss, A.R., Gillies, M.J., Philiastides, M.G., Apps, M.A., Whittington, M.A., FitzGerald, J.J., Boccard, S.G., Aziz, T.Z., & Green, A.L. (2018) Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortices Differentially Lateralize Prediction Errors and Outcome Valence in a Decision-Making Task. Front. Hum. Neurosci. Link

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Lakens et al (2018). Justify Your Alpha: A Response to “Redefine Statistical Significance”. Nature Human Behaviour. PDF

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Apps, M. A., McKay, R., Azevedo, R. T., Whitehouse, H., & Tsakiris, M. (2018). Not on my team: Medial prefrontal cortex responses to ingroup fusion and unfair monetary divisions. Brain and behavior. PDF

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2017

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Draper, A., Koch, R., Van der Meer., Apps, M.A.J., Pickkers, P., Husain, M., & Van der Schaaf. (2017). Effort but not reward sensitivity is altered by acute sickness induced by experimental endotoxemia in humans. Neuropsychopharmacology. Link

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Lockwood, P.L., Hamonet, M., Zhang, S., Salmony, F., Ratnavel, A., Husain, M., & Apps, M.A.J.,* (2017). Prosocial apathy when helping others is too much effort.  Nature Human Behaviour. PDF

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Chong, T-J. T.,* Apps, M.A.J.,* Sillence, A., Giehl, K., Grima, L., & Husain, M. (2017). Neurocomputational mechanisms of subjective motivation of effort costs.  PLoS Biology. *equal contributors. DATA. PDF. 

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Le Heron, C., Apps, M.A.J., & Husain, M. (2017). The anatomy of apathy: a neurocognitive framework for amotivated behaviour. Neuropsychologia. PDF

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Balsters, J.H., Apps, M.A.J., Bolis, D., Lehner, R., Gallagher, l., & Wenderoth, N. (2017). Disrupted prediction errors index social deficits in autism spectrum disorder. Brain. PDF

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Apps, M.A.J., & Sallet, J. (2017). Social learning in the medial prefrontal cortex. Trends in Cognitive Science. PDF

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2016

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Apps, M.A.J., Rushworth, M.F.S., Chang, S.W.C. (2016). The anterior cingulate gyrus and social cognition: tracking the motivation of others. Neuron. PDF

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Ainley, V. Apps, M.A.J., Fotopolou, A., & Tsakiris, M. (2016). Bodily Precision: A Predictive Coding Account of Individual Differences in Interoceptive Accuracy. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. PDF

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Farmer, H., Apps, M.A.J., & Tsakiris, M. (2016). Reputation in an Economic Game Modulates Premotor Cortex Activity during Action Observation. European Journal of Neuroscience. PDF

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Lockwood, P.L., Apps, M.A.J., Valton, V., Viding, E., & Roiser, J.P (2016). Neurocomputational mechanisms of prosocial learning and links to empathy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. PDF

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Balsters, J.H., Mantini, D., Apps, M.A., Eickhoff, S., Wenderoth, N. (2016). Connectivity-based parcellation increases network detection sensitivity in resting state fMRI: An investigation into the cingulate cortex in autism. Neuroimage: Clinical. PDF

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2015

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Apps M.A.J. Grima, L., Manohar, S. & Husain, M. (2015). The role of cognitive effort in subjective reward devaluation and risky decision-making. Scientific Reports. PDF

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Apps, M.A.J., Tajadura-Jimenez, A., Sereno, M., Blanke, O., & Tsakiris, M. (2015). Plasticity in unimodal and multimodal brain areas reflects multisensory changes in self-face identification. Cerebral Cortex. Link

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Apps, M.A.J., Lesage, E., &  Ramnani, N. (2015). Vicarious reinforcement learning signals when instructing others. Journal of Neuroscience. PDF

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Ang, Y-S., Manohar, S., &  Apps M.A.J. (2015). Commentary: Noradrenaline and Dopamine Neurons in the Reward/Effort Trade-off: A Direct Electrophysiological Comparison in Behaving Monkeys. Frontiers in Behavioural Neuroscience. PDF

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Lockwood, P.L.,  Apps M.A.J., Roiser, J.P., & Viding, E. (2015). Encoding of Vicarious Reward Prediction in Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Relationship with Trait Empathy. Journal of Neuroscience. PDF

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Manohar, S., Chong, T., Apps M.A.J. ... & Husain, M. (2015). Reward Pays the Cost of Noise Reduction in Motor and Cognitive Control. Current Biology. PDF

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2014 and earlier

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Apps, M.A.J., & Tsakiris, M. (2014). The free-energy self: A predictive coding account of self-recognition. Neuroscience and Biobehavioural Reviews. PDF

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Apps, M.A.J., & Ramnani, N. (2014). The anterior cingulate gyrus signals the net-value of others rewards. Journal of Neuroscience. PDF

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Apps, M. A., Tajadura-Jiménez, A., Sereno, M., Blanke, O., & Tsakiris, M. (2015). Plasticity in unimodal and multimodal brain areas reflects multisensory changes in self-face identification. Cerebral Cortex. PDF

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Apps, M. A. J., Lockwood, P. L., & Balsters, J. (2013). The role of the midcingulate cortex in monitoring others decisions. Frontiers in Neuroscience. PDF

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Apps, M. A. J., & Tsakiris, M.(2013). Predictive codes of familiarity and context during the perceptual learning of facial identities. Nature Communications. PDF

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Apps, M. A. J., Green, R., & Ramnani, N. (2013). Reinforcement learning signals in the anterior cingulate cortex code for others’ false beliefs. Neuroimage. PDF

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Apps, M. A. J., Tajadura-Jimenez, A., Turley, G,. & Tsakiris, M. (2012). The different faces of ones self: an fMRI study into the recognition of current and past self-facial appearances.  Neuroimage. PDF

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Apps, M. A. J., Balsters, J. H., & Ramnani, N. (2012). The Anterior Cingulate Cortex: Monitoring the outcomes of others decisions. Social Neuroscience. PDF

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Lesage, E., Apps, M. A. J., Hayter, A. L., Beckmann, C. F., Barnes, D., Langdon, D. W., & Ramnani, N. (2010). Cerebellar Information Processing In Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RRMS).  Behavioural Neurology. PDF

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