Neuroscience

EEG decodability of facial expressions and their stereoscopic depth cues in immersive virtual reality

1. Felix Klotzsche
2. Ammara Nasim
3. Simon M Hofmann
4. Arno Villringer
5. Vadim Nikulin
6. Werner Sommer
7. Michael Gaebler

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study successfully decoded visual representations of facial expressions and stereoscopic depth information from electroencephalogram (EEG) signals recorded in an immersive virtual reality (VR) environment. The evidence is solid in demonstrating the technical feasibility of integrating state-of-the-art EEG decoding and VR with eye tracking. This work will interest neuroscience researchers, as well as engineers developing brain-machine interfaces and/or virtual reality displays.

Reviewed by eLife

Robust and replicable effects of ageing on resting state brain electrophysiology measured with MEG

1. Andrew J Quinn
2. Jemma Pitt
3. Oliver Kohl
4. Chetan Gohil
5. Mats WJ van Es
6. Anna C Nobre
7. Mark W Woolrich

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The authors ask whether a simple whole-head spectral power analysis of human magnetoencephalography data recorded at rest in a large cohort of adults shows robust effects of age, and their results provide compelling evidence that it does. The relative simplicity of the analysis is a major strength of the paper, and the authors are careful to control for many different confounds - although perhaps highly correlated factors like brain anatomy still pose a slight issue. The paper provides a valuable power analysis framework that should inform researchers across the broader neuroimaging community

Reviewed by eLife

Frequency-selective contrast sensitivity modulation driven by fine-tuned exogenous attention at the foveal scale

1. Yue Guzhang
2. T Florian Jaeger
3. Martina Poletti

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study explores how exogenous attention operates at the finest spatial scale of vision, within the foveola - a topic that has not been previously explored. The question is important for understanding how attention shapes perception, and how it differs between the periphery and the central regions of highest visual acuity. The evidence is compelling, as shown by carefully designed experiments with state-of-the-art eye tracking to monitor attended locations just a few tens of minutes of arc away from the fixation target, but additional clarification regarding analyses and implications for vision and oculomotor control would broaden the impact of the study.

Reviewed by eLife

Learning-Associated Flexibility of Cortical Taste Coding Is Impaired in Shank3 Knockout Mice

1. Chi-Hong Wu
2. Gina G Turrigiano

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study provides solid evidence for deficits in aversive taste learning and taste coding in a mouse model of autism spectrum disorders. Specifically, the authors found that Shank3 knockout mice exhibit behavioral deficits in learning and extinction of conditioned taste aversion, and calcium imaging of the gustatory cortex identified impaired neuronal responses to taste stimuli. This paper will likely be of interest to researchers studying how learning and sensory processes are affected by genetic causes of autism spectrum disorders.

Reviewed by eLife

Large sharp-wave ripples promote hippocampo-cortical memory reactivation and consolidation

1. Heath L. Robinson
2. Ralitsa Todorova
3. Gergo A. Nagy
4. Anna Gruzdeva
5. Praveen Paudel
6. Azahara Oliva
7. Antonio Fernandez-Ruiz

Reviewed by PREreview

Incubation of oxycodone craving is associated with CP-AMPAR upregulation in D1 and D2 receptor-expressing medium spiny neurons in nucleus accumbens core and shell

1. Kimberley A. Mount
2. Hayley M. Kuhn
3. Eun-Kyung Hwang
4. Madelyn M. Beutler
5. Marina E. Wolf

Reviewed by PREreview

Coordinated spinal locomotor network dynamics emerge from cell-type-specific connectivity patterns

1. F David Wandler
2. Benjamin K Lemberger
3. David L McLean
4. James M Murray

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  In this valuable study, Wandler et al. provide convincing theoretical evidence for alternate mechanisms of rhythm generation by CPGs. Their model shows that cell-type-specific connectivity and an inhibitory drive could underlie rhythm generation. Excitatory input could act to enhance the frequency range of these rhythms. This modeling study could motivate further experimental investigation of these mechanisms to understand CPG rhythmogenesis.

Reviewed by eLife

Circadian control of dopaminergic signaling to the mushroom body regulates sleep through rhythmic Pka-C1 transcription in Drosophila

1. Blanca Lago Solis
2. Emi Nagoshi

Reviewed by PREreview

Population analyses reveal heterogenous encoding in the medial prefrontal cortex during naturalistic foraging

1. Ji Hoon Jeong
2. June-Seek Choi

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study by Jeong and Choi studied neural activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) while rats performed a foraging paradigm in which rats forage for rewards in the absence or presence of a threatening object (Lobsterbot). The authors present interesting observations suggesting that the mPFC population activity switches between distinct functional modes conveying distinct task variables- such as the distance to the reward location and types of threat-avoidance behaviors-depending on the location of the animal. The reviewers thought that the results are overall convincing, appreciated the value of studying neural coding in naturalistic settings, and felt that this work offers significant insights into how the mPFC operates during foraging behavior involving reward-threat conflict.

Reviewed by eLife

GPR30 in spinal cholecystokinin-positive neurons modulates neuropathic pain

1. Qing Chen
2. Hui Wu
3. Shulan Xie
4. Fangfang Zhu
5. Fang Xu
6. Qi Xu
7. Lihong Sun
8. Yue Yang
9. Linghua Xie
10. Jiaqian Xie
11. Hua Li
12. Ange Dai
13. Wenxin Zhang
14. Luyang Wang
15. Cuicui Jiao
16. HongHai Zhang
17. Xuelong Zhou
18. Zhen-Zhong Xu
19. Xinzhong Chen

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study investigates nerve-injury-induced allodynia by studying the role of a subpopulation of excitatory dorsal horn CCK+ neurons that express the estrogen receptor GPR30 and potentially modulate nociceptive sensitivity via direct inputs from primary somatosensory cortex. In this revised version, the authors addressed many of the critiques raised through added analyses that convincingly support the notion that spinal GPR30 neurons are indeed an excitatory subpopulation of CCK+ neurons that contribute to neuropathic pain. While evidence of a direct functional corticospinal projection to CCK+/GPR30+neurons is not fully demonstrated, this work will be of broad interest to researchers interested in the neural circuitry of pain.

Reviewed by eLife