Neuroscience

eLife Assessment

This important study advances our understanding of the temporal dynamics and cortical mechanisms of eye movements and the cognitive process of attention. The evidence supporting the conclusions is convincing and based on measuring the time course of the eye movement-attention interaction in a novel, carefully-controlled experimental task. This study will be of broad interest to psychologists and neuroscientists interested in the dynamics of cognitive processes.

eLife Assessment

In this manuscript, the authors present valuable findings on the apparent role of a salience-network anterior insula node in directing fronto-parietal and default-mode network activity within a tripartite network during control of memory, drawn from an impressive invasive human neurophysiological dataset. Overall, the authors have presented a convincing set of analyses. We also commend the use of a large intracranial EEG dataset to approach this question.

eLife Assessment

The study from Frank and colleagues reports potentially important cryo-EM observations of mouse glutamatergic synapses isolated from adult mammalian brains. The authors used a combination of mouse genetics to generate PSD95-GFP labeling in vivo, a rapid synaptosome isolation and cryo-protectant strategy, and cryogenic correlated light-electron microscopy (cryoCLEM) to record tomograms of synapses, which together provide convincing support for their conclusions. Controversially, the authors report that forebrain glutamatergic synapses do not contain postsynaptic "densities" (PSD), a defining feature of synapse structure identified in chemically-fixed and resin-embedded brain samples. The work questions a long-standing concept in neurobiology and is primarily of interest to specialists in synaptic structure and function.

eLife Assessment

This important study asks whether motor neurons within the vestibulo-ocular circuit of zebrafish are required to determine the identity, connectivity, and function of upstream premotor neurons. They provide compelling and comprehensive genetic, anatomical and behavioral evidence that the answer is, "No!". This work will be of general interest to developmental neurobiologists and will motivate future studies of whether motor neurons are dispensable for assembly of other sensorimotor neural circuits.

eLife Assessment

This study provides a useful set of experiments showing the relative contribution of the Noradrenergic system in reversing the sedation induced by midazolam. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid, although specificity issues in the pharmacology and neural-circuit investigations narrow down the strengths of the conclusions. Dealing with these limitations will make the paper attractive to medical biologists working on the neurobiology of anesthesia.

eLife Assessment

In this compelling study, the authors examine the interactions between stellate cells and PV+ interneurons in the medial entorhinal cortex. Huang et al. focus on the spatial distribution of synaptic inputs and demonstrate that closely located neuron pairs receive common inputs, suggesting a structured functional organization in the entorhinal cortex. Advanced dual whole-cell patch recordings further reveal patterns of postsynaptic activation, indicating intensive interactions within clusters of these neurons, with weaker interactions between clusters. These findings offer significant insights into the functional dynamics of the entorhinal cortex and the circuit mechanisms that shape grid cell activity. This study is important not only for the field of MEC and grid cells, but also for broader fields of continuous attractor networks and neural circuits.

eLife Assessment

This manuscript tackles a significant problem in addiction science: how interdependent are measures of "addiction-like" behavioral phenotypes? The manuscript provides compelling evidence that, under these experimental conditions, escalation of intake, punishment-resistant responding, and progressive ratio break points reflect a single underlying construct rather than reflect distinct unrelated measures. The exceptionally large sample size and incorporation of multiple behavioral endpoints add strength to this paper, and make it an important resource for the field.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study applies transcranial direct current stimulation (tCDS) to the prefrontal cortex of non-human primates during two states: (1) propofol-induced unconsciousness; and (2) wakeful performance of a fixation task. The analysis offers incomplete evidence to indicate that the effect of tDCS on brain dynamics, as recorded with functional magnetic resonance imaging, is contingent on the state of consciousness during which the stimulation is applied. The findings will be of interest to researchers interested in brain stimulation and consciousness.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study uses an original approach to address the longstanding question of why reaching movements are often biased. The combination of a wide range of experimental conditions and computational models is a strength. However, the modeling assumptions are not well-substantiated, the modeling analysis is insufficient with its focus on fits to average and not individual subject data, and the results are limited to biases in reach direction and do not consider biases in reach extent. Taken together, the evidence supporting the main claims is incomplete.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study investigated the appearance of ultrasonic vocalizations around 44 kHz that occurs in response to prolonged fear conditioning in male rats. Evidence in support of the conclusions is solid and may be of interest to some researchers also investigating distress-related ultrasonic vocalizations.