Neuroscience

Eelbrain, a Python toolkit for time-continuous analysis with temporal response functions

1. Christian Brodbeck
2. Proloy Das
3. Marlies Gillis
4. Joshua P Kulasingham
5. Shohini Bhattasali
6. Phoebe Gaston
7. Philip Resnik
8. Jonathan Z Simon

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  Brodbeck et al. offer a timely and important contribution to how neural signals in response to continuous temporal modulations (as seen in speech and language processing) can be modelled effectively using temporal response functions. They offer a convincing new approach that includes a novel application of a boosting algorithm in addition to an accessible and didactically useful toolbox for analysis. With further comparison to existing toolboxes, or a more extensive comparison of boosting and ridge regression via simulation, this work will have a compelling impact on methods in speech and language neuroscience, as well as in cognitive neuroscience more broadly.

Reviewed by eLife

Are single-peaked tuning curves tuned for speed rather than accuracy?

1. Movitz Lenninger
2. Mikael Skoglund
3. Pawel Andrzej Herman
4. Arvind Kumar

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This is important work that addresses a long-standing (but rarely acknowledged) question: given that multi-peaked tuning curves optimize Fisher information, why do early sensory areas typically have single-peaked tuning curves? This paper shows clearly, and convincingly, that multi-peaked tuning curves are likely to produce catastrophic errors at short times, so if speed is important, multi-peaked tuning curves should be avoided. This work should encourage neuroscientists to take into account the importance of stimulus encoding time in their formulations of models of neural coding.

Reviewed by eLife

Spatiotemporal tissue maturation of thalamocortical pathways in the human fetal brain

1. Siân Wilson
2. Maximilian Pietsch
3. Lucilio Cordero-Grande
4. Daan Christiaens
5. Alena Uus
6. Vyacheslav R Karolis
7. Vanessa Kyriakopoulou
8. Kathleen Colford
9. Anthony N Price
10. Jana Hutter
11. Mary A Rutherford
12. Emer J Hughes
13. Serena J Counsell
14. Jacques-Donald Tournier
15. Joseph V Hajnal
16. A David Edwards
17. Jonathan O’Muircheartaigh
18. Tomoki Arichi

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study presents important new findings regarding prenatal thalamocortical development. The authors present convincing evidence to overcome substantial methodological challenges in charting prenatal brain development in vivo. This work will be of interest to pediatric and developmental neuroscientists and neuroradiologists.

Reviewed by eLife

LTK and ALK promote neuronal polarity and cortical migration by inhibiting IGF1R activity

1. Tania Christova
2. Stephanie KY Ho
3. Ying Liu
4. Mandeep Gill
5. Liliana Attisano

Reviewed by Review Commons

Evidence for embracing normative modeling

1. Saige Rutherford
2. Pieter Barkema
3. Ivy F Tso
4. Chandra Sripada
5. Christian F Beckmann
6. Henricus G Ruhe
7. Andre F Marquand

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This is a rigorous and compelling extension of previous normative modeling work that demonstrates that normative models incorporating lifespan trajectories of structural and functional connectivity provide a strong basis for brain imaging studies across a range of tasks including, univariate group difference assessment, classification, and building regression models. The work is important, rigorous and a valuable contribution to the field.

Reviewed by eLife

Daily oscillation of the excitation/inhibition ratio is disrupted in two mouse models of autism

1. Michelle C.D. Bridi
2. Nancy Luo
3. Grace Kim
4. Benjamin J. Menarchek
5. Rachel A. Lee
6. Bryan Rodriguez
7. Daniel Severin
8. Cristian Moreno
9. Altagracia Contreras
10. Christian Wesselborg
11. Caroline O’Ferrall
12. Ruchit Patel
13. Sarah Bertrand
14. Sujatha Kannan
15. Alfredo Kirkwood

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study presents an important finding on the cause of the widely reported disruption of the excitation to inhibition (E-I) ratio change in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) mouse models. The evidence supporting the main conclusions is solid and well-sampled. These results can be a starting point for studies that assess the functional role of daily oscillations of the E-I ratio in the pathophysiology of ASD, and possibly, reshape our understanding of the nature of the E/I balance alterations that contribute to normal and diseased circuits.

Reviewed by eLife

Increased cortical plasticity leads to memory interference and enhanced hippocampal-cortical interactions

1. Irene Navarro Lobato
2. Adrian Aleman-Zapata
3. Anumita Samanta
4. Milan Bogers
5. Shekhar Narayanan
6. Abdelrahman Rayan
7. Alejandra Alonso
8. Jacqueline van der Meij
9. Mehdi Khamassi
10. Zafar U Khan
11. Lisa Genzel

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study reveals that slow plasticity in the neocortex is essential to prevent memory interference. The method of artificially increasing plasticity in the prefrontal cortex of rats during learning and its effect on sleep physiology, when memories are believed to be reprocessed, is solid. The work will be of interest to neuroscientists interested in learning and memory.

Reviewed by eLife

Distinct roles of forward and backward alpha-band waves in spatial visual attention

1. Andrea Alamia
2. Lucie Terral
3. Malo Renaud D'ambra
4. Rufin VanRullen

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  Alamia and colleagues investigate the direction of traveling waves in the alpha frequency band during visual spatial attention. The authors' novel perspective adopted here is valuable to understanding the functional relevance of alpha oscillations for spatial attention. The observed pattern of results is consistent with distinct roles for travelling alpha waves in spatially opposite directions and makes a solid case for considering this new perspective on alpha rhythms in human cognitive function.

Reviewed by eLife

Regulation of different phases of AMPA receptor intracellular transport by 4.1N and SAP97

1. Caroline Bonnet
2. Justine Charpentier
3. Natacha Retailleau
4. Daniel Choquet
5. Françoise Coussen

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study by Bonnet et al addresses the question of how AMPA receptor numbers at the synapse are regulated during basal conditions and during chemically induced Long Term Potentiation. Specifically, the study aims to determine the molecular mechanisms that contribute to the intracellular trafficking of AMPA receptors and determine their insertion into the synaptic plasma membrane. Using compelling methodology, the authors dissect the distinct roles of two proteins that bind to the C-terminal domain of the AMPA receptor subunit GluA1: 4.1N and SAP97. The findings will be of interest to anyone trying to understand molecular events contributing to synaptic plasticity in health and disease, and more broadly, the method could be adapted for tracking intracellular movements of a wide range of proteins.

Reviewed by eLife

A model of hippocampal replay driven by experience and environmental structure facilitates spatial learning

1. Nicolas Diekmann
2. Sen Cheng

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This paper proposes a new computational model for replay that is biologically realistic and accounts for a number of important phenomena in hippocampal replay. This is an important study with implications for multiple subfields. Whilst the majority of claims are convincingly supported by the data, simulation analyses for some crucial aspects of replay literature are currently incomplete.

Reviewed by eLife