Neuroscience

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

Twelve phosphomimetic mutations induce the assembly of recombinant full-length human tau into paired helical filaments

1. Sofia Lövestam
2. Jane L Wagstaff
3. Taxiarchis Katsinelos
4. Jenny Shi
5. Stefan MV Freund
6. Michel Goedert
7. Sjors HW Scheres

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This manuscript describes the identification and characterization of 12 specific phosphomimetic mutations in the recombinant full-length human tau protein that trigger tau to form fibrils. This fundamental study will allow in vitro mechanistic investigations. The presented evidence is convincing. This manuscript will be of interest to all scientists in the amyloid formation field.

Reviewed by eLife

Microsaccades track shifting but not necessarily maintaining covert visual-spatial attention

1. Anna M van Harmelen
2. Freek van Ede

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This useful study demonstrates that microsaccade direction primarily indexes shifts rather than the maintenance of covert spatial attention, offering a focused interpretation that may help reconcile inconsistencies in the prior literature. However, the evidence remains incomplete due to limited engagement with the broader body of existing work and the absence of independent measures, single-trial analyses, and neutral-condition controls needed to substantiate the central claims. The work will be of broad interest to researchers investigating attention, eye movements, and visuomotor mechanisms.

Reviewed by eLife

Dissociable memory modulation mechanisms facilitate fear amnesia at different timescales

1. Yinmei Ni
2. Ye Wang
3. Zijian Zhu
4. Jingchu Hu
5. Daniela Schiller
6. Jian Li

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This manuscript presents valuable findings which reveal an intricate pattern of memory expression following retrieval extinction at different intervals from retrieval-extinction to test. The novel advance is in the demonstration that, relative to a standard extinction procedure, the retrieval-extinction procedure more effectively suppresses responses to a conditioned threat stimulus when testing occurs just minutes after extinction. While the data provide solid evidence that the "short-term" suppression of responding involves engagement of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, there are inconsistencies in the analyses reported which obscure the interpretation and leave some of the claims with limited evidence.

Reviewed by eLife

Cerebellar climbing fibers impact experience-dependent plasticity in the mouse primary somatosensory cortex

1. Abby Silbaugh
2. Kevin P Koster
3. Christian Hansel

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents a fundamental discovery of how cerebellar climbing fibers modulate plastic changes in the somatosensory cortex by identifying both the responsible cortical circuit and the anatomical pathways. The evidence supporting the conclusions is convincing and well supported by modern neuroscience methodologies. Overall, this work represents a significant contribution that will be of broad interest to neuroscientists, especially those studying the long-distance cerebellar influence on non-motor brain functions.

Reviewed by eLife

A Signaling Hub in the Mosquito Rectum Coordinates Reproductive Investment After Blood Feeding

1. Chloe Greppi
2. Kyle Frank
3. Victoria Saltz
4. Laura B. Duvall

Reviewed by PREreview

Modality-Agnostic Decoding of Vision and Language from fMRI

1. Mitja Nikolaus
2. Milad Mozafari
3. Isabelle Berry
4. Nicholas Asher
5. Leila Reddy
6. Rufin VanRullen

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The study introduces a valuable dataset for investigating the relationship between vision and language in the brain. The authors provide convincing evidence that decoders trained on brain responses to both images and captions outperform those trained on responses to a single modality. The dataset and decoder results will be of interest to communities studying brain and machine decoding.

Reviewed by eLife

TRPV3 channel activity helps cortical neurons stay active during fever

1. Yiming Shen
2. Richárd Fiáth
3. Baskar Mohana Krishnan
4. István Ulbert
5. Michelle W Antoine

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This is a valuable study of the physiological mechanisms promoting network activity during fever in the mouse neocortex. The supporting evidence is solid, and has improved with revision, along with increased clarity of presentation.

Reviewed by eLife

Distinct brain mechanisms support trust violations, belief integration, and bias in human-AI teams

1. Luisa Roeder
2. Pamela Hoyte
3. Graham Kerr
4. Peter Bruza
5. Johan N van der Meer

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study provides a useful investigation of human-AI interaction and decision-making, using both behavioral and electrophysiological measures. However, the theoretical framework and experimental design are incomplete, with an unclear task structure and feedback implementation limiting interpretability. With these issues addressed, the work could make a significant contribution to understanding human-AI collaboration.

Reviewed by eLife