Neuroscience

Mouse sensorimotor cortex reflects complex kinematic details during reaching and grasping

1. Harrison A Grier
2. Sohrab Salimian
3. Matthew T Kaufman

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The granularity with which neural activity in the sensorimotor cortex of mice corresponds to voluntary forelimb motion is a key open question. This paper provides compelling evidence for the encoding of low-level features like joint angles and represents an important step forward toward understanding cortical limb control signals.

Reviewed by eLife

Motor biases reflect a misalignment between visual and proprioceptive reference frames

1. Tianhe Wang
2. Ryan J Morehead
3. Amber Jiang
4. Richard B Ivry
5. Jonathan S Tsay

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study uses an original method to address the longstanding question of why reaching movements are often biased. The combination of a wide range of experimental conditions and computational modeling is a strength. Convincing evidence is presented in support of the main claim that most of the biases in 2-D movement planning originate in misalignment between visuo-proprioceptive reference frames.

Reviewed by eLife

Spatially targeted inhibitory rhythms differentially affect neuronal integration

1. Drew B. Headley
2. Benjamin Latimer
3. Adin Aberbach
4. Satish S. Nair

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study assesses through simulations how several features of local cortical circuits - interneuron subtypes, their specific targeting of dendritic compartments, and certain brain rhythms - together affect the integration of synaptic inputs by a pyramidal cell. Employing several carefully considered simulation setups they convincingly demonstrate that beta rhythms are best suited to modulate and control dendritic Ca-spikes while gamma rhythms affect their coupling to somatic spiking, or how basal inputs are directly integrated into somatic spikes. However, the baseline setup may be idealized for the generation of the events in question and it would be beneficial if the similarity to the in-vivo activity regime was demonstrated further. The results will be relevant for neuroscientists studying local circuits or developing more abstract theories at the systems level.

Reviewed by eLife

Exposure to false cardiac feedback alters pain perception and anticipatory cardiac frequency

1. Eleonora Parrotta
2. Patric Bach
3. Giovanni Pezzulo
4. Mauro Gianni Perrucci
5. Marcello Costantini
6. Francesca Ferri

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  In this valuable study, Parrotta et al. showed that it is possible to modulate pain perception and heart rate by providing false heart rate (HR) acoustic feedback before administering electrical cutaneous shocks. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is rather solid, although what they consider an interoceptive signal is not necessarily supported as such by the results. In this regard, including a larger number of trials per participant, increasing the sample size, and adding a measure of actual pain perception after its induction would have strengthened the study. Although mechanisms and some alternative explanations for this effect remain to be addressed, the work will nonetheless be of interest to neuroscientists working on predictions and perception, health psychologists, pain researchers, and placebo researchers.

Reviewed by eLife

Pallium-encoded valence-specific chemosensory amplification of eye-body coordination in larval zebrafish

1. Samuel K. H. Sy
2. Danny C. W. Chan
3. Jenny J. Zhang
4. Jing Lyu
5. Crystal Feng
6. Kui Wang
7. Vincent C. T. Mok
8. Kenneth K. Y. Wong
9. Yu Mu
10. Yu Hu
11. Ho Ko

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  Using their unique Fish-On-Chips optofluidics platform, the authors make three important findings: the presence of precise coupling between saccades and tail flips can be used to discriminate between turning or gliding behaviours; aversive and appetitive chemosensory cues differentially modulate these behaviours; transformation from cue valence to behaviour is encoded by the pallium. The evidence supporting these findings is solid. The work advances our understanding of the ancient interplay between chemosensation and motor output through the modulation of eye-body coordination.

Reviewed by eLife

Preserved cerebellar functions despite structural degeneration in older adults

1. Anda de Witte
2. Anouck Matthijs
3. Benjamin Parrell
4. Dante Mantini
5. Jolien Gooijers
6. Jean-Jacques Orban de Xivry

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study examined age-related changes in cerebellar function by testing a large sample of younger and older adults, including 30 over 80 years old, on motor and cognitive tasks linked to the cerebellum and conducting structural imaging. Their findings show that cerebellar-dependent functions are mostly maintained or even enhanced across the lifespan, with cerebellar-mediated motor abilities remaining intact despite degeneration, in contrast to non-cerebellar measures. Overall, the authors provide solid evidence in support of preserved cerebellar function with age. These results highlight the resilience and redundancy of cerebellar circuits and offer key insights into aging and motor behavior.

Reviewed by eLife

Goal-directed visual information processing with GABAergic inhibition in parietal cortex

1. Zhiyan Wang
2. Sinah Wiborg
3. Antonia Wittmann
4. Nina Beck
5. Susanna Hirschle
6. Dominik Aschenbrenner
7. Markus Becker
8. Sebastian M. Frank

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study employs functional magnetic resonance spectroscopy (fMRS) to demonstrate that GABAergic inhibition in the parietal cortex actively suppresses goal-irrelevant distractors, thereby facilitating goal-directed visual tracking. The data and analyses are solid, and the methodology is validated. However, the link between the metabolic changes and the purported functional mechanisms is incomplete due to concerns with experimental design and interpretations. The study will be of interest to researchers studying goal-directed behavior and neurochemical dynamics in cognitive processing.

Reviewed by eLife

Identifying regulators of associative learning using a protein-labelling approach in C. elegans

1. Aelon Rahmani
2. Anna McMillen
3. Ericka Allen
4. Radwan Ansaar
5. Renee Green
6. Michaela E Johnson
7. Anne Poljak
8. Yee Lian Chew

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  In reporting on a valuable "learning proteome" for a C. elegans gustatory associative learning paradigm, this work identifies a new set of genes to be tested for roles in learning and memory, describes molecular pathways involving these genes and relevant for learning and memory in C. elegans, and deliver a new set of tools for prodding worm behavior. The methods and results convincingly support the findings, which will be of interest to neuroscientists and developmental biologists seeking to understand the self-assembly and operation of neural circuits for learning and memory.

  [Editors' note: this paper was reviewed by Review Commons.]

Reviewed by eLife, Review Commons

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Segmentation-Based Quality Control of Structural Magnetic Resonance Images

1. Robert Dahnke
2. Polona Kalc
3. Gabriel Ziegler
4. Julian Grosskreutz
5. Christian Gaser

Reviewed by GigaScience

Inhibitory circuits control leg movements during Drosophila grooming

1. Durafshan Sakeena Syed
2. Primoz Ravbar
3. Julie H Simpson

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  Combining connectomics, optogenetics, behavioral analysis and modeling, this study delivers important findings on the role of inhibitory neurons in the generation of leg grooming movements in Drosophila. The results include convincing evidence that the identified neuronal populations are key in the generation of rhythmic leg movements, structured in distinct polysynaptic pathways articulating inhibition and disinhibition of antagonistic sets of motor neurons, as mapped from an electron microscopy volume of the ventral nerve cord, which orchestrate an alternation of flexion and extension. By analyzing limb kinematics upon experimentally silencing specific populations of premotor inhibitory neurons, together with computational modelling, the potential role of these neurons in rhythmic leg movement is shown. This work will be of interest to neuroscientists working in motor control and limbed locomotion.

Reviewed by eLife