Neuroscience

Intrinsic dynamic shapes responses to external stimulation in the human brain

1. Maximilian Nentwich
2. Marcin Leszczynski
3. Charles E Schroeder
4. Stephan Bickel
5. Lucas C Parra

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This manuscript presents an interesting new framework (VARX) for simultaneously quantifying effective connectivity in brain activity during sensory stimulation and how that brain activity is being driven by that sensory stimulation. The reviewers thought the model was original and its conclusion that intrinsic connectivity is reduced (rather than increased) during sensory stimulation is very interesting, but that for ideal performance, one must specify all sensory features in the model, which is not possible. Overall, however, this work is important with convincing evidence for its conclusions - it will be of interest to neuroscientists working on brain connectivity and dynamics.

Reviewed by eLife

The oneirogen hypothesis: modeling the hallucinatory effects of classical psychedelics in terms of replay-dependent plasticity mechanisms

1. Colin Bredenberg
2. Fabrice Normandin
3. Blake Richards
4. Guillaume Lajoie

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This paper provides a useful new theory of the hallucinatory effects of psychedelics. The authors present convincing evidence that a computational model trained with the Wake-Sleep algorithm can reproduce some features of hallucinations by varying the strength of top-down connections in the model, but discussion of the model's relationships to the psychedelics and sleep literatures is incomplete. The work will be of interest to researchers studying hallucinations or offline activity and learning more broadly.

Reviewed by eLife

Trial-level Representational Similarity Analysis

1. Shenyang Huang
2. Cortney M Howard
3. Paul C Bogdan
4. Ricardo Morales-Torres
5. Matthew Slayton
6. Roberto Cabeza
7. Simon W Davis

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study proposes a potentially useful improvement on a popular fMRI method for quantifying representational similarity in brain measurements by focusing on representational strength at the single trial level and adding linear mixed effects modeling for group-level inference. The manuscript demonstrates increased sensitivity with no loss of precision compared to more classic versions of the method. However, the framing of the work with respect to these prior approaches is incomplete, several assumptions are insufficiently motivated, and it is unclear to what extent the approach would generalize to other paradigms.

Reviewed by eLife

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 a dominant 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

Neuroanatomical foundations of social tolerance across macaque species

1. Sarah Silvère
2. Julien Lamy
3. Christelle Po
4. Mathieu Legrand
5. Jerome Sallet
6. Sebastien Ballesta

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important work compares the size of two brain areas, the amygdala and the hippocampus, across 12 species belonging to the Macaca genus. The authors find, using a convincing methodological approach, that amygdala - but not hippocampal - volume varies with social tolerance grade, with high tolerance species showing larger amygdala than low tolerance species of macaques. Interestingly, their findings also suggest an inverted developmental effect, with intolerant species showing an increase in amygdala volume across the lifespan, compared to tolerant species exhibiting the opposite trend. Overall, this paper offers new insights into the neural basis of social and emotional processing.

Reviewed by eLife

How sleeping minds decide: state-specific reconfigurations of lexical decision-making

1. Tao Xia
2. Chuan-Peng Hu
3. Basak Türker
4. Esteban Munoz Musat
5. Lionel Naccache
6. Isabelle Arnulf
7. Delphine Oudiette
8. Xiaoqing Hu

Reviewed by preLights

Disentangling acute motor deficits and adaptive responses evoked by the loss of cerebellar output

1. Nirvik Sinha
2. Sharon Israely
3. Ora Ben Harosh
4. Ran Harel
5. Julius PA Dewald
6. Yifat Prut

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  Using a unique cerebellar disruption approach in non-human primates, this study provides valuable new insight into how cerebellar inputs to the motor cortex contribute to reaching. The findings convincingly demonstrate that reaching movements following cerebellar disruption slow down because of both an acute deficit in producing muscle activity as well as a progressive decline in compensating for limb dynamics. This work will be of interest to neuroscientists and clinicians interested in cerebellar function and pathology.

Reviewed by eLife

Neural dynamics of visual working memory representation during sensory distraction

1. Jonas Karolis Degutis
2. Simon Weber
3. Joram Soch
4. John-Dylan Haynes

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study reports a reanalysis of one experiment of a previously-published report to characterize the dynamics of neural population codes during visual working memory in the presence of distracting information. This paper presents solid evidence that working memory representations are dynamic and distinct from sensory representations of intervening distractions. This research will be of interest to cognitive neuroscientists working on the neural bases of visual perception and memory.

Reviewed by eLife

Striatal cholinergic interneuron pause response requires Kv1 channels, is absent in dyskinetic mice, and is restored by dopamine D5 receptor inverse agonism

1. Cecilia Tubert
2. Rodrigo Manuel Paz
3. Agostina Mónica Stahl
4. Kianny Miroslava Sanchez Armijos
5. Lorena Rela
6. Mario Gustavo Murer

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The authors investigated the mechanisms underlying the pause in striatal cholinergic interneurons (SCINs) induced by thalamic input, identifying that Kv1 channels play a key role in this burst-dependent pause. The experimental evidence is convincing.
  The study provides important mechanistic insights into how burst activity in SCINs leads to a subsequent pause, highlighting the involvement of D1/D5 receptors.

Reviewed by eLife

Group identification drives brain integration for collective performance

1. Enhui Xie
2. Shuyi Zha
3. Yiyang Xu
4. Xianchun Li

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This timely and important study used functional near-infrared spectroscopy hyperscanning to examine the neural correlates of how group identification influences collective behavior. The work provides solid evidence to indicate that the synchronization of brain activity between different people underlies collective performance and that changes in brain activity patterns within individuals may, in turn, underlie this between-person synchrony, although the order in which different task stages were completed could not be counter-balanced. This study will be of interest to researchers investigating the neuroscience of social behaviour.

Reviewed by eLife