Neuroscience

eLife Assessment

This valuable study provides convincing evidence that mutant hair cells with abnormal, reversed polarity of their hair bundles in mouse otolith organs retain wild-type localization, mechanoelectrical transduction and firing properties of their afferent innervation, leading to mild behavioral dysfunction. It thus demonstrates that the bimodal pattern of afferent nerve projections in this organ is not causally related to the bimodal distribution of hair-bundle orientations, as also confirmed in the zebrafish lateral line. The work will be of interest to scientists interested in the development and function of the vestibular system as well as in planar-cell polarity.

eLife Assessment

The authors describe a model for tracking time-varying functional connectivity between neurons from multi-electrode spike recordings. This is an interesting and potentially useful approach to an open problem in neural data analysis, and could be an essential tool for investigating the neural code from large-scale in-vivo recordings of spiking activity. However, the evidence is incomplete: systematic comparisons with existing methods and/or demonstration of its utility relative to conventional methods are essential to demonstrate the usefulness of the method.

eLife Assessment

This important work uses in vivo foveal cone-resolved imaging and simultaneous microscopic photostimulation to investigate the relationship between ocular drift - eye movements long thought to be random - and visual acuity. The surprising result is that ocular drift is systematic - causing the object to move to the center of the cone mosaic over the course of each perceptual trial. The tools used to reach this conclusion are state-of-the-art and the evidence presented is convincing. This work advances our understanding of the visuomotor system and the interplay of anatomy, oculomotor behavior, and visual acuity.

eLife Assessment

This important study examines the stability and compensatory plasticity in the retinotopic mapping in patients with congenital achromatopsia. It provides convincing evidence for a stable mapping of the visual field in V1, alongside changes of the readout from V1 into V3, which shows revised receptive field location and size. With the controlling for potential confounding variables, this paper would be of interest to scientists studying the visual system, brain plasticity, and development.

eLife Assessment

This important study presents results for the theory of odor coding in hyperbolic spaces by revealing spiral trajectories in the dynamics of odors during natural, ethologically relevant processes such as ripening. In the current manuscript, the strength of the evidence is solid and would be strengthened by answering several technical points raised by reviewers.

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

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.