Ant device

Participants sat in front of a computer screen and were instructed to move as little as possible. A fixation cross at approximately 0.8 m distance was presented while subjects were monitored during sEBR assessment to ensure that they were focusing on the cross shown on the computer screen as instructed. Data collection continued for 5 min [40 (link),41 (link)].
Spontaneous eye blinking rates (sEBRs) were assessed with electrooculograms (VEOG and HEOG) recorded from above and below the left eye and from the right and left outer canthi. The concurrent EEG recording was performed with an ANT device (ANT Neuro, Hengelo, The Netherlands) and a 64 channel WaveGuard EEG cap (International 10–20 System) with Ag/AgCl electrodes, where mastoids served as a reference, and the ground electrode was attached close to Fz. Impedance was kept below 20 kΩ, and the sampling rate was set at 2048 Hz.
For sEBR extraction, we implemented an automated pipeline provided by MATLAB toolbox BLINKER [42 (link)]. The spontaneous blinking rate was defined as the number of blinks per minute and computed as the average blink rate for the 5 min dataset as the number of blink maxima divided by the total length of the dataset in minutes.

A 64-channel EEG signal was recorded with an ANT device (ANT Neuro, Hengelo, The Netherlands) and WaveGuard EEG gel-based cap with integrated Ag/AgCl electrodes which were placed according to the 10-10 International electrode placement system. Mastoids were used as a reference; the ground electrode was attached close to Fz. Impedance was kept below 20 kΩ, and the sampling rate was set at 1024 Hz. Simultaneously, vertical and horizontal electro-occulograms (VEOG and HEOG) were recorded from above and below the left eye and from the right and left outer canthi.
The 3-channel EEG data were collected using a wireless portable system (PolymateMini AP108, Miyuki Giken Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) with three active dry electrodes (Unique Medical Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) [23 (link)] positioned at FC3, FCz, and FC4 according to the 10–20 International electrode placement system. The right mastoid was used as a reference; the ground electrode was attached to the left mastoid. The sampling rate was set at 500 Hz. Simultaneously, vertical and horizontal electro-occulograms (VEOG and HEOG) were recorded from above and at the side of the left eye.