eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Neural mechanisms of credit assignment for delayed outcomes during contingent learning

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Phillip P Witkowski
   2. Lindsay JH Rondot
   3. Zeb Kurth-Nelson
   4. Mona M Garvert
   5. Raymond J Dolan
   6. Timothy EJ Behrens
   7. Erie Boorman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study provides important findings that during credit assignment, the lateral orbitofrontal cortex (lOFC) and hippocampus (HC) encode causal choice representations, while the frontopolar cortex (FPl) mediates HC -lOFC interactions when the causality needs to be maintained over longer distractions. This research offers compelling evidence and employs sophisticated multivariate pattern analysis. However, while the task design captures the delayed component, it lacks the full complexity and ambiguity of the credit assignment process observed in real-world scenarios. Moreover, the data indicated that other frontal regions beyond just lOFC were involved in delayed credit assignment. This work will be of interest to cognitive and computational neuroscientists who work on value-based decision-making and fronto-hippocampal circuits.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Tripartite organization of brain state dynamics underlying spoken narrative comprehension

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Lanfang Liu
   2. Jiahao Jiang
   3. Hehui Li
   4. Guosheng Ding

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study provides important insights into the brain activity and connectivity underlying speech comprehension, revealing three brain states. The authors present compelling evidence by leveraging hidden Markov modeling of fMRI data to link brain state dynamics to comprehension scores, though the functional role of these states remains under-explored. These findings advance our understanding of how brain state transitions in narrative comprehension relate to stimulus-specific features.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Projections from thalamic nucleus reuniens to hippocampal CA1 area participate in context fear extinction by affecting extinction-induced molecular remodeling of excitatory synapses

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Magdalena Ziółkowska
   2. Narges Sotoudeh
   3. Anna Cały
   4. Monika Puchalska
   5. Roberto Pagano
   6. Malgorzata Alicja Śliwińska
   7. Ahmad Salamian
   8. Kasia Radwanska

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This work provides important findings characterizing potential synaptic mechanisms supporting the role of midline thalamus-hippocampal projections in fear memory extinction in mice. The methods and approaches were considered solid, though some evidence is incomplete as there are some concerns with the analytical approaches used for some aspects of the study. This work will be of interest to those in the field of thalamic regulation and fear memory.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Temporal dynamics analysis reveals that concurrent working memory load eliminates the Stroop effect through disrupting stimulus-response mapping

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Yafen Li
   2. Yixuan Lin
   3. Qing Li
   4. Yongqiang Chen
   5. Zhifang Li
   6. Antao Chen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study investigates how working memory load influences the Stroop effect from a temporal dynamics perspective. Convincing evidence is provided that the working memory load influences the Stroop effect in the late-stage stimulus-response mapping instead of the early sensory stage. This study will be of interest to both neuroscientists and psychologists who work on cognitive control.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. IFIT1 is rapidly evolving and exhibits disparate antiviral activities across 11 mammalian orders

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Matthew B McDougal
   2. Ian N Boys
   3. Anthony M De Maria
   4. Emi Nakahara
   5. John W Schoggins

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important report describes the changing antiviral activity of IFIT1 across mammals and in response to distinct viruses, likely as a result of past arms races. One of the main strengths of the manuscript is the breadth of mammalian IFIT1 orthologs and viruses that were tested, as well as the thoroughness of the positive selection analysis. Overall the evidence is convincing, and the discussion conveys well the limitations due to physical interactions with other IFITs that are not accounted for.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. PD-1 negatively regulates helper T cell differentiation into Th2

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Masaki Tajima
   2. Naoko Ikuta
   3. Yuka Nakajima
   4. Kensuke Suzuki
   5. Yosuke Tokumaru
   6. Peng Li
   7. Hiroshi Kiyonari
   8. Tasuku Honjo
   9. Akio Ohta

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study reports on a novel role of PD-1 in early T cell differentiation, showing that PD-1 stimulation impairs Th2 differentiation more effectively than that of Th1, with implications for the treatment of allergies. However, whereas the series of well-designed experiments using OVA-specific CD4 T cells from DO.11.10 mice and the use of an allergy model generated compelling data, the study is still incomplete since it shows gaps in the rationale for the experimental protocols, contradictory data regarding IFN-gamma and IL-4 production, and the lack of in vivo experiments on Th2 differentiation to further support the main hypothesis. Nonetheless, the reported data would be of interest to immunologists working on T cell differentiation and allergy.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Assessing the balance between excitation and inhibition in chronic pain through the aperiodic component of EEG

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Cristina Gil Avila
   2. Elisabeth S May
   3. Felix S Bott
   4. Laura Tiemann
   5. Vanessa Hohn
   6. Henrik Heitmann
   7. Paul Theo Zebhauser
   8. Joachim Gross
   9. Markus Ploner

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     Gil Ávila et al. evaluated the aperiodic component in the medial prefrontal cortex using resting-state EEG recordings from 149 individuals with chronic pain and 115 healthy participants. The authors present compelling evidence that the aperiodic component of the EEG does not differentiate between those with chronic pain and healthy individuals. The study was well-designed and rigorously conducted, and the clear and conclusive results provide important insights that can guide future research in the field of pain neuroscience.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. New soft tissue data of pterosaur tail vane reveals sophisticated, dynamic tensioning usage and expands its evolutionary origins

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Natalia Jagielska
   2. Thomas G Kaye
   3. Michael B Habib
   4. Tatsuya Hirasawa
   5. Michael Pittman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The presented soft tissue data of pterosaur tail vanes represent a valuable contribution to ongoing research efforts to decipher the flight abilities of pterosaurs in the fields of paleontology, comparative biomechanics, and bioinspired design. The new methods are compelling and give new detail on tail morphology, with a potential to resolve how pterosaurs were able to control and maintain tail stiffness to furnish flight control.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Low-dimensional olfactory signatures of fruit ripening and fermentation

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Yuansheng Zhou
   2. Thomas F O’Connell
   3. Majid Ghaninia
   4. Brian H Smith
   5. Elizabeth J Hong
   6. Tatyana O Sharpee

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     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.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Wavenumber-dependent transmission of subthreshold waves on electrical synapses network model of Caenorhabditis elegans

    This article has 3 authors:

    1. Iksoo Chang
    2. Taegon Chung
    3. Sangyeol Kim

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This study presents numerical results on a framework for understanding the dynamics of subthreshold waves in a network of electrical synapses modeled on the connectome data of the C elegans nematode. The strength of the evidence presented in favor of interference effects being a major component in subthreshold wave dynamics is inadequate and the approach is flawed. Substantial methodological issues are present, including altering the original network structure of the connectome without a clear justification and providing little motivation for the choice of numerical parameters values that were used.

    Reviewed by eLife