Neuroscience

Testing the state-dependent model of subsecond time perception against experimental evidence

1. Pirathitha Ravichandran-Schmidt
2. Joachim Hass

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This useful paper explores a mathematical model of subsecond time perception, testing potential neural mechanisms behind the linear psychophysical law, Weber's law, and dopaminergic modulation of subjective durations. The model employed readout units to decode an interval. Nevertheless, the work is incomplete and presented as data-driven, but there is no analysis of empirical data.

Reviewed by eLife

Theta cycle dynamics of spatial representations in the lateral septum

1. Katarzyna Bzymek
2. Fabian Kloosterman

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  In this study, the authors present convincing evidence to demonstrate theta cycle skipping by individual neurons of the lateral septum, which they then relate to population coding of future trajectories encapsulated by theta cycles. This valuable finding furthers our understanding of how the septum conveys navigational information downstream.

Reviewed by eLife

Goal-directed vocal planning in a songbird

1. Anja T Zai
2. Anna E Stepien
3. Nicolas Giret
4. Richard HR Hahnloser

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important work identifies a previously uncharacterized capacity for songbird to recover vocal targets even without sensory experience. The evidence supporting this claim is convincing, with technically difficult and innovative experiments exploring goal-directed vocal plasticity in deafened birds. This work has broad relevance to the fields of vocal and motor learning.

Reviewed by eLife, PREreview

Aβ-driven nuclear pore complex dysfunction alters activation of necroptosis proteins in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease

1. Vibhavari Aysha Bansal
2. Jia Min Tan
3. Hui Rong Soon
4. Norliyana Zainolabidin
5. Takaomi Saido
6. Toh Hean Ch'ng

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study focuses on nuclear pore complex dysfunction in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease related Aβ pathology. If future revisions can adequately respond to the reviewer comments, the findings may eventually be useful in supporting the idea that nuclear cytoplasmic transport defects occur prior to plaque deposition in this disease model and may be caused by Alzheimer's disease pathology. However, even after revision, the work suffers from overinterpretation of some of the data and remains incomplete in several respects.

Reviewed by eLife

Conservation of neuron-astrocyte coordinated activity among sensory processing centers of the developing brain

1. Vered Kellner
2. Patrick Parker
3. Xuelong Mi
4. Guoqiang Yu
5. Gesine Saher
6. Dwight E. Bergles

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Serotonergic amplification of odor-evoked neural responses maps onto flexible behavioral outcomes

1. Yelyzaveta Bessonova
2. Baranidharan Raman

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This useful work shows that the experimental application of serotonin to locust antennal lobes induces an increased feeding-related response to some odorants (even in food-satiated animals). To explain how the odorant-specific effects are seen despite similar consequences of 5-HT modulation on all projection neuronal types, the authors propose a simple quantitative model built around projection with different downstream connections. While they are consistent with the authors' conclusions, the current panel of experiments is incomplete and additional future work will be required to fully support the conclusions the authors currently draw from their observations.

Reviewed by eLife

EFEMP1 contributes to light-dependent ocular growth in zebrafish

1. Jiaheng Xie
2. Bang V. Bui
3. Patrick T. Goodbourn
4. Patricia R. Jusuf

Reviewed by Review Commons

Scalable, optically-responsive human neuromuscular junction model reveals convergent mechanisms of synaptic dysfunction in familial ALS

1. Daniel Chen
2. Polyxeni Philippidou
3. Bianca de Freitas Brenha
4. Ashleigh E. Schaffer
5. Helen C. Miranda

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This is an important study describing a neuromuscular junction co-culture system using human cells that the authors use to study the synaptic consequences of ALS mutations. The data supporting the system are solid and show the value of using myotubes and motor neurons from the same donor. The study will be of interest to researchers who model neuromuscular junction disorders, however, the authors could more comprehensively compare and contrast their system with previous literature describing other similar models. There are also technical weaknesses that limit the interpretation of specific findings.

Reviewed by eLife

A synergistic workspace for human consciousness revealed by Integrated Information Decomposition

1. Andrea I Luppi
2. Pedro AM Mediano
3. Fernando E Rosas
4. Judith Allanson
5. John Pickard
6. Robin L Carhart-Harris
7. Guy B Williams
8. Michael M Craig
9. Paola Finoia
10. Adrian M Owen
11. Lorina Naci
12. David K Menon
13. Daniel Bor
14. Emmanuel A Stamatakis

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This article presents important results describing how the gathering, integration, and broadcasting of information in the brain changes when consciousness is lost either through anesthesia or injury. They provide convincing evidence to support their conclusions, although the paper relies on a single analysis tool (partial information decomposition) and could benefit from a clearer explication of its conceptual basis, methodology, and results. The work will be of interest to both neuroscientists and clinicians interested in basic and clinical aspects of consciousness.

Reviewed by eLife

Hippocampus and striatum show distinct contributions to longitudinal changes in value-based learning in middle childhood

1. Johannes Falck
2. Lei Zhang
3. Laurel Raffington
4. Johannes Julius Mohn
5. Jochen Triesch
6. Christine Heim
7. Yee Lee Shing

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  In this work, the authors make a valuable contribution based on convincing evidence that children 6-to-7-years-old improve in 2 years of development towards utilising more optimal value-based decision-making strategies while performing a reinforcement learning task. They found that delayed feedback learning was associated with volume in the hippocampus while immediate feedback learning was not. Striatal volume was associated with both forms of learning, in contrast to prior research funding in adults. Brain-behaviour correlations were stable across the 2-year period, despite the hippocampus increasing in volume and striatal volume remaining stable.

Reviewed by eLife