Neuroscience

eLife Assessment

This valuable study uses high-field fMRI to test the hypothesized involvement of subcortical structures, particularly the striatum, in updating working memory. The study overcomes limitations of prior work by applying high-field imaging with a more precise definition of regions of interest in the brain. Thus, the empirical observations are of use to specialists interested in working memory gating or the reference back task specifically. The evidence is generally solid, but strong conclusions on dopaminergic contributions must await additional work using molecular imaging or related techniques.

eLife Assessment

This important study successfully applies an innovative chemogenetic tool to investigate cerebellar function to advance our understanding of the contributions of Purkinje cell populations to postural control in larval zebrafish. The evidence supporting the conclusions is convincing and supported by rigorous statistical analysis. The study highlights the power of combining genetically targeted perturbations with quantitative high-throughput behavioral analysis and original microscopy tools.

eLife Assessment

This important study provides convincing evidence that developing neurons in the neocortex regulate glial cell development. The data demonstrates that the transcription factor FOXG1 negatively regulates gliogenesis by controlling the expression of a member of the FGF ligand family and by suppressing the receptor for this ligand in developing neurons. This study leads to a new understanding of the cascade of events regulating the timing of glial development in the neocortex.

eLife Assessment

This important study introduces a new cortical circuit model for predictive processing. Simulations effectively illustrate that, with appropriate synaptic plasticity, a canonical layer 2/3 cortical circuit - comprising two classes of interneurons providing subtractive and divisive inhibition - can generate uncertainty-modulated prediction errors by pyramidal neurons. The model is compelling; although it relies on many assumptions and has not yet been compared directly to data, the model does align with empirical observations and yields a range of testable predictions. The study is expected to be of great interest to those involved in cortical and predictive processing research.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study reports the induction of supernumerary inner hair cells in the mouse cochlea upon reducing the expression level of a tight-junction protein (claudin-9) at developmental stages. Although these ectopic hair cells are functional and persists through adulthood, the evidence supporting some of the claims is incomplete, particularly regarding the underlying mechanisms of cell differentiation and the potential of the approach for hair-cell regeneration. The work will be of interest to scientists working in the development and regeneration of hair cells in the inner ear.

eLife Assessment

What makes one member of the species behave differently from another? This is a core problem in behavioral neuroscience. This valuable study seeks an answer for the specific case of the fruit fly expressing preferences for one odor over another. By a combination of behavioral measurements, neurophysiology, and network modeling, the authors find solid evidence for at least one locus of individuality in the peripheral olfactory system.

eLife Assessment

This study tested the specific hypothesis that age-related changes to hearing involve a partial loss of synapse connections between sensory cells in the ear and the nerve fibers that carry information about sounds to the brain, and that this interferes with the ability to discriminate rapid temporal fluctuations in sounds. Physiological, behavioral, and histological analyses provide a powerful combination to test this hypothesis in gerbils. Contrary to previous suggestions, it was found that chemically-induced isolated synaptopathy (at similar levels as observed in aged gerbils) did not result in worse performance on a behavioral task measuring sensitivity to fine-structure. Further, altered neural coding of rapid fluctuations produced no perceptual deficits in either these gerbils or in aged gerbils. These findings are important for understanding age-related changes to hearing; however, the evidence provided is incomplete due to problems in interpretation and the discussion of possible confounds and/or limitations of these data that currently limits mechanistic insight.

eLife Assessment

In an important fMRI study with an elegant experimental design and rigorous cross-decoding analyses, this work shows a convincing dissociation between two parietal regions in visually processing actions. Specifically, aIPL is found to be sensitive to the causal effects of observed actions, while SPL is sensitive to the patterns of body motion involved in those actions. The work will be of broad interest to cognitive neuroscientists, particularly vision and action researchers.

eLife Assessment

This study empirically investigates the neural noise hypothesis of developmental dyslexia using electroencephalography (EEG) during a spoken language task and 7T magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). The convincing findings indicate no evidence of an imbalance between excitatory and inhibitory (E/I) brain activity in adolescents and young adults with dyslexia compared to controls, thereby challenging the neural noise hypothesis. This research is valuable for advancing our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying dyslexia and offers broader insights into the neural processes involved in reading development.

eLife Assessment

This study uses state-of-the-art methods to label endogenous dopamine receptors in a subset of Drosophila mushroom body neuronal types. The authors report that Dop1R1 and Dop2R receptors, which have opposing effects on intracellular cAMP, are present in axons termini of Kenyon cells, as well as those of two classes of dopaminergic neurons that innervate the mushroom body indicative of autocrine modulation by dopaminergic neurons. Additional experiments showing opposing effects of starvation on Dop1R1 and Dop2R levels in mushroom body neurons are consistent with a role for dopamine receptor levels increasing the efficiency of learned food-odour associations in starved flies. Supported by solid data, this is an important contribution to the field.