Gansheng Tan M.Eng

Gansheng Tan M.Eng

PhD Candidate in Biomedical Engineering

Sitemap

A list of all the posts and pages found on the site. For you robots out there, there is an XML version available for digesting as well.

Pages

Posts

AI Detox: Reclaiming Thought in an Efficiency Era

7 minute read

Published:

I joined a recent meeting about how we can use AI rigorously and efficiently. This was my first time hearing the terms super prompting and skill files. We all agreed on the same point: LLMs improve our capacity to work. Tasks that used to take hours can now be done in less time. However, the time we gain is often spent asking LLMs to do even more tasks. Efficiency creates new demand for efficiency. the more we rely on it, and the less often we practice thinking without immediate assistance. What looks like productivity gain may also become cognitive outsourcing.

The perception of human society (updated)

6 minute read

Published:

Background

Years ago, I claimed that the world was running irrationally. I was 95% wrong. I want to update my thoughts on this point as I have been dwelling in the field of medicine and neuroscience for 4 years. We, humans, perceive nature through senses and cognition. I define cognition as the ability to reason, abstract, and communicate (information transfer). Scientifically, at least based on the literature to date, cognition is grounded on our sensations. For example, we like to make visual analogies to explain a concept, such as sphere-atom, river-time, and numerous 2D illustrations in scientific publications.

Universal law in mind

6 minute read

Published:

Updates (July 2025)

I reviewed what I have written in this post and found that many of the reasoning is missing. For example, I did not establish the necessity or the need to find such a universal law, neither do I convincingly reached the conclusion that finding the universal law requires transcending humanity. As of now, I think what I refer to as universal law is the law that exists (ontology) and can not be understood by humans (epistemology) in this post. Although this definition rescue the arguement that we need transcending humanity, this definition makes it less compelling. Most importantly, such a law is inherently unknowable and its pursuit is self-contradictory.

Existence and perception

6 minute read

Published:

Prelude

We perceive the world through vision, sensation, sound, smell, taste. Mechanistically, the receptor of the cells senses the environment and transduce the signals/molecules/electrical activities to the brain. A fundamental problem of defining existence in the world is: how do we define the existence that can not beb sensed. I find a less intimidating way to formulate the question: if the signal from cell receptor takes a certain period to reach our brain, can we tell if the stimuli occurs at the present time.

An practical guide of statistical analyses in Neuroscience studies (for beginners)

47 minute read

Published:

Introduction

This notebook aims to provide statistical functions, build dataFrame, and perform statistical analyses. The conditions/groups are push/pull+ healthy/lf-patients/hf-patients/sham-patients + before/after-TMS The hypotheses tested are:

  • difference between healthy subjects and patients (includng lf/hf/sham-TMS) in push/pull epochs()
  • the regression between CMMN properties (including components-SPMIs and graph properties) and FMA
  • clustering analyses on CMMN properties (UE-brunnstrom clusters)
  • ANOVA and MANOVA and post-hoc analyses (details are missed)

Les Aveux fidèles

3 minute read

Published:

Introduction

On aimerait tous savoir parler plusieurs langues, par contre le problème est que quand j’ai envie de faire un bilan, toutes les langues que j’ai apprises paraissent manquer quelque choses pour qu’elles soient parfaites. Et bien, grace au principe du rasoir d’Ockham, j’écrirai comme je parle à moi-même, peu n’import quelle langue. D’un côté, cela demandera moins d’effort; de l’autre, cela me permettra exprimer mes réflexions brutes sans qu’ils soient partiellement cachées à cause de la honte ou alors la peur qu’on me juge.

portfolio

projects

MaxFlow_segmentation

innovation project begun in CentraleSupélec, CENTRE DE VISION NUMERIQUE (CVN), 2019

This project is served as an example about representing energy function as multi-layer graph.

Rhythm_dynamic_in_locomotion

scientific thought begun in Washington University in St. Louis, CINT, 2019

The central pattern generator plays an important role in motor execution. I am fascinated by the involvement of rhythm in central nervous system processing, for example, Neuronal oscillation, heart beat, respiration, motor neuron patterned firing. The question is: can we modulate the rhythmic dynamic to enhance coordination and improve rehabilitation from neurological disorder, hemiparesis for example?

Electrode-localization

innovation project begun in Department of Biomedical Engineering, 2025

Algorithms DOI in MATLAB for objectively and automatically localizing intracranial contac, based on CT images, MRI images, and freesurfer segmentation.

Explainable machine learning for cognitive neuroscience

research framework begun in Washington University in St. Louis, 2025

This project develops an explainable machine learning framework for cognitive neuroscience. The goal is to learn complex relationships between neural signals and cognitive behavior, then explain model decisions in a way that supports scientific interpretation rather than only predictive performance.

publications

Comparison between the performance of GAN and DCGAN

Published in NON, 2019

Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) are algorithms that generate content (usually images), which imitate real content that is fed to them.

Recommended citation: Gezheng, X.&Gansheng, T.&Fangxu, L.&Xiaoyu, S.(2019). &quotComparison between the performance of GAN and DCGAN." Learning network. NA(NA).
Download Paper

Classification of meditation state and auditory attention control state

Published in NON, 2019

This detailed paper elucidate the methods and results of using EEG signal band power, ratios of frequencies magnitudes and phase-amplitude coupling in classification

Recommended citation: Gansheng, T.&Shuhui, W.&Valentin, V.& Wei,M. (2019). "Classification of meditation state and auditory attention control state." Jalon. 1(4).
Download Paper

Multiscale Transfer Spectral Entropy for Quantifying Corticomuscular Interaction

Published in IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics, 2021

Multiscale transfer spectral entropy for quantifying directed corticomuscular interaction across scales.

Recommended citation: Liu, J., Tan, G., Sheng, Y., & Liu, H. (2021). Multiscale Transfer Spectral Entropy for Quantifying Corticomuscular Interaction. IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics, 25(6), 2281-2292. https://doi.org/10.1109/JBHI.2020.303297
Download Paper

A framework for quantifying the effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation on motor recovery from hemiparesis: corticomuscular network

Published in Journal of Neural Engineering, 2022

Corticomuscular network as a framework for understanding motor recovery following stroke and optimizing TMS.

Recommended citation: Tan, G., Wang, J., Liu, J., Sheng, Y., Xie, Q., & Liu, H. (2022). A framework for quantifying the effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation on motor recovery from hemiparesis: corticomuscular network. Journal of Neural Engineering, 19(2). https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-2552/ac636b
Download Paper

Does vibrotactile stimulation of the auricular vagus nerve enhance working memory? A behavioral and physiological investigation

Published in Brain Stimulation, 2024

Development of novel noninvasive vagus nerve stimulation for working memory improvement

Recommended citation: Tan, G., Adams, J., Donovan, K., Demarest, P., Willie, J. T., Brunner, P., Gorlewicz, J. L., & Leuthardt, E. C. (2024). Does vibrotactile stimulation of the auricular vagus nerve enhance working memory? A behavioral and physiological investigation. In Brain Stimulation (Vol. 17, Issue 2, pp. 460–468). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2024.04.002
Download Paper | Download Slides

The effect of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on cardiovascular function in subarachnoid hemorrhage patients: A randomized trial

Published in eLife, 2025

A randomized trial showing that taVNS can be delivered safely in subarachnoid hemorrhage patients while modulating autonomic balance.

Recommended citation: Tan, G., Huguenard, A. L., Donovan, K. M., Demarest, P., Liu, X., Li, Z., Adamek, M., Lavine, K., Vellimana, A. K., Kummer, T. T., Osbun, J. W., Zipfel, G. J., Brunner, P., & Leuthardt, E. C. (2025). The effect of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on cardiovascular function in subarachnoid hemorrhage patients: A randomized trial. eLife. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.100088
Download Paper

Mind’s eye: Saccade-related evoked potentials support visual encoding in humans

Published in medRxiv, 2025

Saccade-related evoked potentials support visual encoding in humans.

Recommended citation: Tan, G., Demarest, P., Li, Y., Cho, H., Park, H., Swift, J. R., Inman, C. S., Manns, J. R., Hamann, S. B., Liu, X., Wahlstrom, K. L., Li, Z., Hollearn, M. K., Campbell, J. M., Cettina, P. E., Sivakumar, S. S., Leuthardt, E. C., Willie, J. T., & Brunner, P. (2025). Mind's eye: Saccade-related evoked potentials support visual encoding in humans. medRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.11.11.25339896
Download Paper

Ultrasound Applications in the Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder: A Systematic Review of Techniques and Therapeutic Potentials in Clinical Trials and Animal Model Studies

Published in Neuromodulation, 2026

A systematic review of focused ultrasound neuromodulation for major depressive disorder across clinical trials and animal model studies.

Recommended citation: Tan, G., Chen, H., & Leuthardt, E. C. (2026). Ultrasound Applications in the Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder: A Systematic Review of Techniques and Therapeutic Potentials in Clinical Trials and Animal Model Studies. Neuromodulation, 29(2), 187-204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurom.2025.08.001
Download Paper | Download Slides

talks

Invited Seminar at the CENTER FOR BRAIN-COMPUTING RESEARCH

Published:

[More information here] (https://personal.ntu.edu.sg/ctguan/research.html)
M.S. Tan talk about the interaction between cortical oscillation and muscle synergies (OSI) in healthy individuals and hemiparesis patients. M.S. Tan found OSI were 5 muscle synergies during the rectangular movement of the upper limb including push, horizontal abduction, pull, and horizontal addction. These muscle synergies were modulates by the cortical oscillation. OSI is an index of motor function in hemiparesis patients and provide insignts in developing effective neuromodulatory therapies.

Working memory in humans

Published:

This talks introduces how working memory is formed and how it affects everyday’s decision.

2024 Society of Neuroscience Annual Meeting

Published:

This talks presents The Interaction between Eye Movement and Middle Temporal Lobe activity During Visual Exploration: Insights from Electrophysiological Data. We found evoked potential occurring at saccade onset and offset.

teaching

Le Cours Français

le cours est ouvert pour tout le monde, Paris-Shanghai, 2019

Les leçons pour bien débuter en français et apprendre du vocabulaire, l’alphabet, la prononciation, la grammaire.

Biomedical-data-science

BME course, Washington University in St. Louis, 2024

This course introduce computational model and data science in the field of biomedical engineering.