Article
Neurosciences
David Wyrick, Luca Mazzucato
Summary: To thrive in dynamic environments, animals must be capable of rapidly and flexibly adapting behavioral responses to changing context and internal state. Our theoretical framework classifies the effects of cell type-specific top-down perturbations on the information processing speed of cortical circuits, demonstrating that perturbation effects on stimulus processing can be predicted by intrinsic gain modulation. This theory leads to counterintuitive effects, such as improved performance with increased input variance, linking connectivity, dynamics, and information processing via gain modulation.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Sara A. Sims, Pinar Demirayak, Simone Cedotal, Kristina M. Visscher
Summary: Functional and structural connectivity between central and peripheral visual representations differ, with central portions of V1 showing stronger connections to frontal regions. The relationship between central V1 and frontal areas is built upon direct connections via the IFOF, emphasizing the importance of understanding how the human brain processes visual information.
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Daniela De Luca, Sara Moccia, Leonardo Lupori, Raffaele Mazziotti, Tommaso Pizzorusso, Silvestro Micera
Summary: This study aims to develop an algorithm that can automatically associate a cortical activation pattern with the visual stimulus that generated it. By conducting experiments on three mice using wide-field calcium imaging, a convolutional neural network (CNN) was trained to classify different visual stimuli. The results show that this method can be used to classify cortical responses to simple visual stimuli, offering a potential alternative to existing decoding methodologies.
JOURNAL OF NEURAL ENGINEERING
(2023)
Editorial Material
Immunology
Alice L. Mueller, Sabra L. Klein
Summary: The prevalence and severity of cancers in non-reproductive tissues are higher in males than females, but the sex-specific factors contributing to this remain poorly understood. In this study, Yang et al. (2022) reveal a mechanism of androgen signaling that leads to an exhausted, terminally differentiated CD8(+) T cell phenotype in male mice.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Carey Y. L. Huh, Henri Leinonen, Taylor Nakayama, Julia R. Tomasello, Jianye Zhang, Jack Zeitoun, John P. Peach, Maximilian Halabi, Jianying Z. Kiser, Krzysztof Palczewski, Philip D. Kiser, Sunil P. Gandhi
Summary: This study found that adult mice can recover visual responsiveness in the primary visual cortex following the correction of retinal defects through retinoid treatment. The treatment increases the number and amplitude of visually responsive neurons and restores the balance of eye-specific responses in the cortex. Additionally, it rescues the modulation of cortical responses by arousal.
Article
Neurosciences
Bruss Lima, Maria M. Florentino, Mario Fiorani, Juliana G. M. Soares, Kerstin E. Schmidt, Sergio Neuenschwander, Jerome Baron, Ricardo Gattass
Summary: Visual perception is the result of hierarchical and parallel processing, as well as remapping, in a dynamic network of cortical visual areas. This article focuses on the topographical organization of cortical areas and the different visual maps found in the primate brain. Contrary to the belief in a strict representational model, the findings suggest that vision is an active and constructive process from the early stages of development, with a complex interplay between perceptual and motor systems.
PROGRESS IN NEUROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Nazim Kourdougli, Anand Suresh, Benjamin Liu, Pablo Juarez, Ashley Lin, David T. Chung, Anette Graven Sams, Michael J. Gandal, Veronica Martinez-Cerdeno, Dean V. Buonomano, Benjamin J. Hall, Cedric Mombereau, Carlos Portera-Cailliau
Summary: Changes in the function of inhibitory interneurons during cortical development could contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders like fragile X syndrome. The loss of parvalbumin INs in both mice and humans with fragile X syndrome leads to circuit dysfunction. Increasing the activity of future PV-INs in neonatal mice can restore PV-IN density, while administering an allosteric modulator of Kv3.1 channels can rescue circuit dynamics and tactile defensiveness.
Article
Neurosciences
Carolina B. D'Andrea, Scott Marek, Andrew N. Van, Ryland L. Miller, Eric A. Earl, Stephanie B. Stewart, Nico U. F. Dosenbach, Bradley L. Schlaggar, Timothy O. Laumann, Damien A. Fair, Evan M. Gordon, Deanna J. Greene
Summary: This study used functional connectivity MRI to investigate the development of visual pathways in children and adults. The results showed that children have stronger functional connectivity between the brainstem motor area and the facial somatosensory cortical network compared to adults. Additionally, children's thalamus showed more integration with multiple networks, while there were no developmental differences in cerebellar connectivity.
Article
Neurosciences
Bruno Oliveira Ferreira de Souza, Eve-Marie Frigon, Robert Tremblay-Laliberte, Christian Casanova, Denis Boire
Summary: The study examined the distribution of cortical thalamic neurons projecting to the pulvinar nucleus in the thalamus in cats and mice, revealing that in cats these neurons were mainly located in Layer 6 except in Area 17 where they were in Layer 5, while in mice they were predominantly found in Layer 6 across all areas. The findings suggest that corticothalamic projections in mice do not follow the same organization as in cats, indicating distinct roles of transthalamic pathways in these species.
JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE NEUROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Kevin J. Norman, Julia Bateh, Priscilla Maccario, Christina Cho, Keaven Caro, Tadaaki Nishioka, Hiroyuki Koike, Hirofumi Morishita
Summary: This study found that top-down signals from the anterior cingulate area to the visual cortex are crucial for attentional behavior under high task demand conditions, but become dispensable when task demand is lowered. These findings provide insights into a flexible mechanism for regulating attentional performance.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Sabrina J. Meikle, Maureen A. Hagan, Nicholas S. C. Price, Yan T. Wong
Summary: This study investigated the feasibility of using current steering to stimulate specific cortical layers. The results showed that current steering could not achieve precise control of neural activity peaks between different layers, but it could reduce the stimulation threshold at adjacent electrodes. This finding is significant for controlling the side effects of neural prostheses.
JOURNAL OF NEURAL ENGINEERING
(2023)
Article
Cell Biology
Nobuhiro Nakai, Masaaki Sato, Okito Yamashita, Yukiko Sekine, Xiaochen Fu, Junichi Nakai, Andrew Zalesky, Toru Takumi
Summary: Functional connectivity (FC) in cortical circuit dysfunction can be revealed through mesoscopic Ca2+ imaging with a virtual reality environment. Rapid reorganization of cortical FC in response to changing behavioral states is observed, and machine learning classification accurately decodes behavioral states. The VR-based imaging system is used to study FC dynamics in a mouse model of autism, identifying FC patterns involving the motor area as distinguishing features during behavioral transitions and potentially correlating with motor clumsiness in individuals with autism. This VR-based system provides crucial information to understand FC dynamics in neuropsychiatric disorders.
Article
Biology
Xu-Hui Li, Wantong Shi, Qi-Yu Chen, Shun Hao, Hui-Hui Miao, Zhuang Miao, Fang Xu, Guo-Qiang Bi, Min Zhuo
Summary: The study investigates the cortical-cortical connection between the bilateral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and its functional importance. It finds a direct synaptic projection from one side ACC to the contralateral ACC and identifies glutamate as the major excitatory transmitter for this bilateral ACC connection. The activation of this connection enhances pain perception and anxiety-like behaviors associated with acute and chronic pain, while inhibition of the connection reduces hyperalgesia. The findings provide therapeutic targets for the treatment of chronic pain and related emotional disorders.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ophthalmology
Guiqu Wang, Peixian Hou, Yanqiong Tu, Jing Zheng, Pinxiong Li, Longqian Liu
Summary: Reverse suture and environment enrichment can improve visual function and synaptic plasticity in adult amblyopic mice. However, activating p38 MAPK hinders visual function recovery by upregulating p38 MAPK phosphorylation and decreasing ATF2 protein expression.
EXPERIMENTAL EYE RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Biology
Jesus Perez-Ortega, Tzitzitlini Alejandre-Garcia, Rafael Yuste
Summary: Neuronal ensembles, identified as coactive groups of neurons in cortical activity, can last for weeks in the visual cortex of awake mice, with some ensembles maintaining activity for up to 46 days and displaying stronger functional connectivity.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Marisa Nordt, Sarah Weigelt
Article
Psychology, Developmental
Marisa Nordt, Kilian Semmelmann, Erhan Genc, Sarah Weigelt
DEVELOPMENTAL COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE
(2018)
Article
Neurosciences
Tobias W. Meissner, Marisa Nordt, Sarah Weigelt
Article
Psychiatry
Hanna Christiansen, Corinna Reck, Anna-Lena Zietlow, Kathleen Otto, Ricarda Steinmayr, Linda Wirthwein, Sarah Weigelt, Rudolf Stark, David D. Ebert, Claudia Buntrock, Johannes Krisam, Christina Klose, Meinhard Kieser, Christina Schwenck
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHIATRY
(2019)
Article
Neurosciences
Michael A. Cohen, Daniel D. Dilks, Kami Koldewyn, Sarah Weigelt, Jenelle Feather, Alexander Je. Kell, Boris Keil, Bruce Fischl, Lilla Zollei, Lawrence Wald, Rebecca Saxe, Nancy Kanwisher
Article
Neurosciences
Steffen Katzner, Gregory Born, Laura Busse
CURRENT OPINION IN NEUROBIOLOGY
(2019)
Article
Psychology, Developmental
Tobias W. Meissner, Jon Walbrin, Marisa Nordt, Kami Koldewyn, Sarah Weigelt
DEVELOPMENTAL COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE
(2020)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Carolin Konrad, Dirk Adolph, Jane S. Herbert, Lina Neuhoff, Cornelia Mohr, Julie Jagusch-Poirier, Sabine Seehagen, Sarah Weigelt, Silvia Schneider
FRONTIERS IN BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE
(2020)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Tobias W. Meissner, Erhan Genc, Burkhard Maedler, Sarah Weigelt
Summary: The study investigated myelination in scene-network tracts using a combination of MWI, DWI tractography, and fMRI in middle childhood, late childhood, and adulthood. The findings show increasing myelin in the right PPA-OPA tract from middle childhood to adulthood, with trends towards increases in the left and right RSC-OPA tracts.
Article
Neurosciences
Alexandra Wal, Frederike Johanna Klein, Gregory Born, Laura Busse, Steffen Katzner
Summary: Mice can evaluate visual cues within a few hundred milliseconds, with approximately 30% of V1 neurons showing cue selectivity. This selectivity is influenced by behavioral demands and can vary in strength between V1 and ACC areas.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Psychology, Developmental
Verena R. Sommer, Luzie Mount, Sarah Weigelt, Markus Werkle-Bergner, Myriam C. Sander
Summary: This study found repetition suppression in all age groups and repetition enhancement in adults through event-related potentials. The magnitude of neural repetition effects was positively correlated with individual item recognition performance, indicating common neural mechanisms of memory formation. This highlights the significance of neural repetition effects as an indicator of individual differences in episodic memory encoding across the lifespan.
DEVELOPMENTAL COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Psychology, Developmental
Verena R. Sommer, Luzie Mount, Sarah Weigelt, Markus Werkle-Bergner, Myriam C. Sander
Summary: This study introduces a new method for analyzing the informational content in neural activation patterns. Current research focuses on the location, timing, or magnitude of neural responses, while information-based pattern similarity analyses are rarely used. The study provides a detailed tutorial and sample dataset to facilitate the usage of spectral pattern similarity analyses.
DEVELOPMENTAL COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Robotics
Alexander Diel, Sarah Weigelt, Karl F. Macdorman
Summary: The uncanny valley effect refers to the negative emotional response towards human-like artificial entities, which hinders comfortable interactions with android robots and virtual characters. A meta-analysis study reveals that the effect size of the uncanny valley is large, with face distortion having the biggest impact.
ACM TRANSACTIONS ON HUMAN-ROBOT INTERACTION
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Developmental
Tobias W. Meissner, Helen Pruefer, Marisa Nordt, Kilian Semmelmann, Sarah Weigelt
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT
(2018)
Article
Psychology, Mathematical
Kilian Semmelmann, Sarah Weigelt
BEHAVIOR RESEARCH METHODS
(2018)