Neuroscience

Does slow oscillation-spindle coupling contribute to sleep-dependent memory consolidation? A Bayesian meta-analysis

1. Thea Ng
2. Eunsol Noh
3. Rebecca MC Spencer

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study presents a meta-analysis confirming a statistically significant association between slow oscillation-spindle coupling and memory formation, although the reported effects are limited (~0.5% of variance). The evidence is overall convincing, but the statistical methods may be difficult to follow for readers unfamiliar with advanced techniques. This work will be of particular interest to neuroscientists studying the neural mechanisms of sleep and memory.

Reviewed by eLife

Cellular and circuit features distinguish mouse dentate gyrus semilunar granule cells and granule cells activated during contextual memory formation

1. Laura Dovek
2. Mahboubeh Ahmadi
3. Krista Marrero
4. Edward Zagha
5. Vijayalakshmi Santhakumar

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This useful study describes distinctive characteristics of dentate gyrus granule cells and semilunar cells that are recruited during contextual memory processing. The study provides solid evidence to suggest mechanisms that may be involved in the recruitment of neurons into memory engrams in the dentate gyrus.

Reviewed by eLife

Modulation of aperiodic EEG activity provides sensitive index of cognitive state changes during working memory task

1. Tisa Frelih
2. Andraž Matkovič
3. Tjaša Mlinarič
4. Jurij Bon
5. Grega Repovš

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable work explores the timely idea that aperiodic activity in human electrophysiology recordings is dynamically modulated in response to task events in a manner that may be relevant for behavioral performance. Moreover, the authors present solid evidence that, in some circumstances, these aperiodic changes might be misinterpreted as oscillatory changes. While many aspects of the manuscript were intriguing, there was a sense that some of the interpretations were overstated - for instance the claim that aperiodic activity distorts interpretations of theta specifically, versus having a more nuanced impact on the time-frequency representation. Softening some of the language may further improve the manuscript.

Reviewed by eLife

Neural coding of multiple motion speeds in visual cortical area MT

1. Xin Huang
2. Bikalpa Ghimire
3. Anjani Sreeprada Chakrala
4. Steven Wiesner

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study concerns how macaque visual cortical area MT represents stimuli composed of more than one speed of motion. The study is valuable because little is known about how the visual pathway segments and preserves information about multiple stimuli, and the study involves perceptual reports from both humans and one monkey regarding whether there are one or two speeds in the stimulus. The study presents compelling evidence that (on average) MT neurons shift from faster-speed-takes-all at low speeds to representing the average of the two speeds at higher speeds. Ultimately, this study raises intriguing questions about how exactly the response patterns in visual cortical area MT might preserve information about each speed, since such information could potentially be lost in an average response as described here, depending on assumptions about how MT activity is evaluated by other visual areas.

Reviewed by eLife

Spatial frequency adaptation modulates population receptive field sizes

1. Ecem Altan
2. Catherine Morgan
3. Steven Dakin
4. D Samuel Schwarzkopf

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This well-designed study combining psychophysical and fMRI data presents a valuable finding regarding how adaptation alters spatial frequency processing in the cortex. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid, although inclusion of more participants and better quality of the fMRI data would have strengthened the study. The study will be of interest to cognitive and perceptual neuroscientists working on human and non-human primates.

Reviewed by eLife

The influence of temporal context on vision over multiple time scales

1. Kacie Lee
2. Reuben Rideaux

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This is a valuable study on how past sensory experiences shape perception across multiple time scales. Using a behavioural task and reanalysed EEG data, the authors identify two unifying mechanisms across time scales: a process resulting in faster responses to expected stimuli modulated by attention to task, and reduced early decoding precision for expected inputs interpreted as dampened feedforward processing. The manipulation to dissociate task-related and unrelated history effects over multiple timescales is novel and promising, but the evidence is incomplete and could be strengthened by clarifying the measures, justifying analyses choices, and the relationship to other work.

Reviewed by eLife

How infant brains fold: Sulcal deepening is linked to development of sulcal span, thickness, curvature, and microstructure

1. Sarah S. Tung
2. Xiaoqian Yan
3. Bella Fascendini
4. Christina Tyagi
5. Charleny Martinez Reyes
6. Keithan Ducre
7. Karla Perez
8. Ahmad Allen
9. Juliet Horenziak
10. Hua Wu
11. Boris Keil
12. Vaidehi S. Natu
13. Kalanit Grill-Spector

Reviewed by preLights

Progressive neural engagement within the IFG-pMTG circuit as gesture and speech entropy and MI advances

1. Wanying Zhao
2. Zhouyi Li
3. Xiang Li
4. Yi Du

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This useful study uses brain stimulation and electroencephalography to study speech-gesture integration. It investigates the role of frontotemporal regions in integrating linguistic and extra-linguistic information during communication, focusing on the inferior frontal gyrus and posterior middle temporal gyrus. Reliance on activation patterns of tightly-coupled brain regions over short timescales leads to incomplete support for the study's conclusions due to conceptual and methodological limitations.

Reviewed by eLife

Rapid rebalancing of co-tuned ensemble activity in the auditory cortex

1. HiJee Kang
2. Travis A Babola
3. Patrick O Kanold

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study uses all-optical electrophysiology methods to provide a valuable insight into the organization of cortical networks and their ability to balance the activity of groups of neurons with similar functional tuning. The all-optical approach used in this study is impressive and the claim that the effects of optical stimulation correspond to a specific homeostatic mechanism is solid. The work will be of interest to neurobiologists and to developers of optical approaches for interrogating brain function.

Reviewed by eLife

High-throughput synapse profiling reveals cell-type-specific spatial configurations in the fly brain

1. Hongyang Wu
2. Yoh Maekawa
3. Sayaka Eno
4. Shu Kondo
5. Nobuhiro Yamagata
6. Hiromu Tanimoto

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important work introduces a splitGFP-based labeling tool with an analysis pipeline for the synaptic scaffold protein bruchpilot, with tests in the adult Drosophila mushroom bodies, a learning center in the Drosophila brain. The evidence supporting the conclusions is solid. However, additional controls, validation of synapse-specificity, validation of activity-dependence, details on image processing, and additional functional experiments are needed to strengthen the study.

Reviewed by eLife