Neuroscience

Comprehensive Neural Representations of Naturalistic Stimuli through Multimodal Deep Learning

1. Mingxue Fu
2. Guoqiu Chen
3. Yijie Zhang
4. Mingzhe Zhang
5. Yin Wang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents a valuable application of a video-text alignment deep neural network model to improve neural encoding of naturalistic stimuli in fMRI. The authors found that models based on multimodal and dynamic embedding features of audiovisual movies predicted brain responses better than models based on unimodal or static features. The evidence supporting the claims is generally solid, with clear benchmarking against baseline models. The work will be of interest to researchers in cognitive neuroscience and AI-based brain modeling.

Reviewed by eLife

The basolateral amygdala complex and perirhinal cortex represent focal and peripheral states of information processing in rats

1. Francesca S Wong
2. A Simon Killcross
3. R Fred Westbrook
4. Nathan M Holmes

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important Research Advance builds on the authors' previous work delineating the roles of the rodent perirhinal cortex and the basolateral amygdala in first- and second-order learning. The convincing results show that serial exposure of non-motivationally relevant stimuli influences how those stimuli are encoded within the perirhinal cortex and basolateral amygdala when paired with a shock. This manuscript will be interesting for researchers in cognitive and behavioral neuroscience.

Reviewed by eLife

NDR kinase SAX-1 controls dendrite branch-specific elimination during neuronal remodeling in C. elegans

1. Paola V. Figueroa-Delgado
2. Shaul Yogev

Reviewed by Review Commons

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

Representation of male features in the female mouse Accessory Olfactory Bulb, and their stability during the estrus cycle

1. Oksana Cohen
2. Yoram Ben-Shaul

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important work substantially advances our understanding of how accessory olfactory bulb neurons respond to social odor cues across the estrous cycle, showing that responses vary with the strain and sex of the odor source but display no consistent differences between estrous and non-estrous states. It employs a unique electrophysiology preparation that activates the vomeronasal organ pump via electric stimulation, enabling precise recordings of accessory olfactory bulb cell responses to different chemosignals in anesthetized mice. Overall, the study presents convincing findings on the stability and variability of accessory olfactory bulb response patterns, indicating that while accessory olfactory bulb detects social signals, it does not appear to interpret them based on reproductive state. This work will be of interest to those studying olfaction, social behavior, reproductive cycles, and systems neuroscience more broadly.

Reviewed by eLife

High Cognitive Violation of Expectations is Compromised in Cerebellar Ataxia

1. Leonardo A Daniel
2. Eli Vakil
3. William Saban

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable investigation provides new and solid evidence for a specific cognitive deficit in cerebellar degeneration patients. The authors use three tasks that modulate complexity and violations of cognitive expectations. They show specific slowing of reaction times in the presence of violations but not with task complexity. While some alternative interpretations of the results are possible and are discussed, the work provides a new, invaluable data point in describing the cognitive contribution of cerebellar processing.

Reviewed by eLife

Age and Learning Shapes Sound Representations in Auditory Cortex During Adolescence

1. Benedikt Praegel
2. Feng Chen
3. Adria Dym
4. Amichai Lavi-Rudel
5. Shaul Druckmann
6. Adi Mizrahi

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study suggests that adolescent mice exhibit less accuracy than adult mice in a sound discrimination task when the sound frequencies are very similar. The evidence supporting this observation is solid and suggests that it arises from cognitive control differences between adolescent and adult mice. The adolescent period is largely understudied, despite its contribution to shaping the adult brain, which makes this study interesting for a broad range of neuroscientists.

Reviewed by eLife

Task structure tailors the geometry of neural representations in human lateral prefrontal cortex

1. Apoorva Bhandari
2. Haley Keglovits
3. Defne Buyukyazgan
4. David Badre

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents a valuable finding on the representational structure of task encoding in the prefrontal cortex. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid, representing an impressive data collection effort and best-practice fMRI analyses. However, at least including visual regions as a control and controlling for behavioral differences in the task in representation analyses would have strengthened the study. The work will be of interest to cognitive neuroscientists interested in the neural basis of cognitive control.

Reviewed by eLife

Nanophysiology Approach Reveals Diversity in Calcium Microdomains across Zebrafish Retinal Bipolar Ribbon Synapses

1. Nirujan Rameshkumar
2. Abhishek P Shrestha
3. Johane M Boff
4. Mrinalini Hoon
5. Victor Matveev
6. David Zenisek
7. Thirumalini Vaithianathan

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The study introduces new tools for measuring the intracellular calcium concentration close to transmitter release sites, which may be relevant for synaptic vesicle fusion and replenishment. This approach yields important new information about the spatial and temporal profile of calcium concentrations near the site of entry at the plasma membrane. This experimental work is complemented by a coherent, open-source, computational model that successfully describes changes in calcium domains. The conclusions are solid and well supported by the data.

Reviewed by eLife

NeuroSC: Exploring Neurodevelopment via Spatiotemporal Collation of Anatomical Networks

1. Noelle L Koonce
2. Sarah E Emerson
3. Dhananjay Bhaskar
4. Manik Kuchroo
5. Mark W Moyle
6. Pura Arroyo-Morales
7. Nabor Vázquez Martínez
8. Jamie I Emerson
9. Smita Krishnaswamy
10. William Mohler
11. Daniel Colón-Ramos

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  NeuroSC is an accessible and interactive tool for streamlined observation of neuronal morphology, membrane contact, and synaptic connectivity across developmental stages in the nematode C. elegans. This important tool relies on solid electron microscopy datasets. This resource will be of high interest to C. elegans researchers interested in nervous system wiring and circuit function.

Reviewed by eLife