Neuroscience

eLife Assessment

These are valuable findings for those interested in how neural signals reflect auditory speech streams, and in understanding the roles of prediction, attention, and eye movements in this tracking. However, the evidence as it stands is incomplete. Further analyses are needed to clarify how the observed results relate to the relevant theoretical claims.

eLife Assessment

The ExA-SPIM methodology developed here and characterized and supported by convincing evidence is an important development for the field of light sheet microscopy as the new technology provides an impressive field of view making it possible to image the entire expanded mouse brain at cellular and subcellular resolution.

eLife Assessment

This important study of the inhibitory complex amacrines (CAM) in the vertical lobe of Octopus vulgaris delivers a solid standard for the structural characterization of an anatomical region likely to be key for memory processing in this unconventional but complex organism, as well as a helpful classification of CAM subtypes. This work will be of broad relevance to the fields of memory and evolutionary neuroscience.

eLife Assessment

The fundamental findings reported here provide insight into how the viscoelasticity of the fingertip skin influences the activity of mechanoreceptive afferents and thus the neural coding of force in humans. The basic principle studied was whether and to what extent the previous applied force directions impact the firing of FA-1, SA-1 and SA-2 neurons during the current applied force directions. The data and analyses are compelling and will be helpful for modeling the neural representations of force in the context of object grasping and manipulation.

eLife Assessment

This important study examines the neuronal mechanisms underlying visual perception of integrated face and body cues. The innovative paradigm, which employs monkey avatars in combination with electrophysiological recordings from fMRI-defined brain areas, provides compelling evidence on face and body integration. These results should be of wide interest to system and cognitive neuroscientists, psychologists, and behavioural biologists working on visual and social cognition.

eLife Assessment

Some delayed rectifier currents in neurons are formed by the combination of Kv2 and silent subunits, KvS. However, we lack the tools to identify these heteromeric channels in vivo. In this important study by the Sack group, the authors identify a pharmacological tool that can reveal the presence of KvS subunits as components of the delayed rectifier potassium currents in selected neurons. The experimental evidence presented in the manuscript is compelling and represents a significant advance that should be of interest to a wide community of neuroscientists and channel physiologists.

eLife Assessment

The study presents compelling evidence that the melanocortin system originating in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus plays a crucial role in puberty onset, representing a significant advance in our understanding of reproductive biology. The research employs innovative approaches and benefits from the combined expertise of two respected laboratories, enhancing the robustness of the findings. Given the potential impact on human health and the strength of the evidence presented, this fundamental work will likely influence the field substantially and may inform future clinical applications.

eLife Assessment

This important work combines self-report, neural and physiology data to examine the efficacy and mechanisms of counter conditioning versus extinction in reducing re-emergence of conditioned threat responses and show that this appears to rely on the nucleus accumbens rather than the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. These findings are supported by convincing evidence, though some areas could benefit from a few targeted refinements. The findings will be of interest to researchers across multiple subfields, including neuroscientists, cognitive theory researchers, and clinicians, particularly those with an interest in clinical applications in trauma therapies.

eLife Assessment

This study presents valuable findings on the relative cerebral blood volume of non-human primates that move us closer to uncovering the functional and architectonic principles that govern the interplay between neuronal and vascular networks. The evidence of areal variations and of vessel counting and laminar analysis is solid. The lack of a direct comparison of their approach against better-established MRI-based methods for measuring hemodynamics and vascular structure somewhat weakens the evidence provided in the current paper version, but the current work is an significant step forward. The work will be of interest to NHP imaging scientists.

eLife Assessment

This study explores how heterozygosity for specific neurodevelopmental disorder-associated TRIO variants affects brain function in mice. The authors conducted thorough analyses on mouse lines harboring TRIO-variants associated with autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder, and the results provide compelling evidence demonstrating unique alterations of each variant in synaptic functions and behavior. These findings highlight a fundamental aspect of TRIO variants contributing to brain functions and neuropsychiatric disorders.