Abrupt onsets reflexively shift covert spatial attention. Recent work demonstrated that trial-to-trial information about the probability of a peripheral onset modulated the magnitude of the attentional cueing effect (low-probability > high-probability). Although onsets were physically identical, pupil responses could have been modulated by information about the probability of the onset’s appearance. Specifically, anticipatory constrictions may have preceded high-probability onsets. Here, we tested this hypothesis using centrally-presented, luminance-matched onset-probability signals. For half the participants, vertical signaled high probability (0.8) of onset appearance (a small, white, peripheral circle), while horizontal signaled low probability (0.2). Contingencies were reversed for the other half. Participants fixated the onset-probability signal for 2,000 milliseconds before the onset was briefly presented or omitted, in line with the signaled probability. To maintain engagement, participants complete...

This webinar is exclusive for SfN members. Please log in for access. Join this interactive session as Weronika Potok and Nicole Wenderoth discuss their paper, “Transcranial Random Noise Stimulation Acutely Lowers the Response Threshold of Human Motor Circuits” with JNeurosci Editor-in-Chief Marina Picciotto. Attendees can submit questions at registration and live during the webinar. Below is the significance statement of Transcranial Random Noise Stimulation Acutely Lowers the Response Threshold of Human Motor Circuits, published on April 28, 2021, in JNeurosci and authored by Weronika Potok, Marc Bächinger, Onno van der Groen, Andreea Loredana Cretu, and Nicole Wenderoth. A hallmark feature of stochastic resonance (SR) is that signal processing can benefit from added noise. This has mainly been demonstrated at the single-cell level in vitro where the neural response to weak input signals can be enhanced by simultaneously applying random noise. Our finding that transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) acutely increases the excitability of corticomotor circuits extends the principle of noise benefits to the neural population level in human cortex. Our finding is in line with the notion that tRNS might affect cortical processing via the SR phenomenon. It suggests that enhancing the response of cortical populations to an external stimulus might be one neurophysiological mechanism mediating performance improvements when tRNS is applied to sensory cortex during perception tasks.

Join this interactive session as Dr. Leila Reddy discusses her paper, “Human Hippocampal Neurons Track Moments in a Sequence of Events” with JNeurosci Editor-in-Chief Marina Picciotto. Attendees can submit questions at registration and live during the webinar. Below is the significance statement of the paper published on August 4, 2021, in JNeurosci and authored by Leila Reddy, Benedikt Zoefel, Jessy K. Possel, Judith Peters, Doris E. Dijksterhuis, Marlene Poncet, Elisabeth C. W. van Straaten, Johannes C. Baayen, Sander Idema, and Matthew W. Self. Episodic memory refers to our ability to remember the what, where, and when of a past experience. Representing time is an important component of this form of memory. Here, we show that neurons in the human hippocampus represent temporal information. This temporal signature was observed both when participants were actively engaged in a memory task, as well as during 10-s-long gaps when they were asked to wait before performing the task. Furthermore, the activity of the population of hippocampal cells allowed for decoding one temporal epoch from another. These results suggest a robust representation of time in the human hippocampus.

There is a famous quote that says, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” I have always tried to follow through on this advice.

Advances in science depend on research that generates reliable and reproducible results. Over the past decade, however, a surprising number of reports have cited failures to replicate critical findings, some of which could serve as the foundation for future human therapies. Lack of reproducibility has motivated funding agencies, journals, and institutions to re-examine research practices in order to improve scientific rigor — and positive steps have been taken. For example, funding agencies now include scientific rigor as a review criterion for grant proposals. Publishers have brought back Materials and Methods sections, requiring authors to be thorough and informative and to specify requirements for blinding and statistical analyses. Additionally, institutions and professional societies, including SfN, have developed dedicated training on the technicalities of conducting rigorous research.

The ability to inhibit and adapt our behavior in response to changing stimuli is a critical component of everyday life. Individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) may struggle to inhibit behavior, particularly in the presence of dopaminergic therapy, which can result in impulsive behavior. Impulse control disorders are often operationalized in the laboratory using motor inhibition tasks. However, deficits of motor inhibition tasks are not always observed in PD, perhaps because of the nature of the motor inhibition that is engaged in typical tasks (e.g., suppression of incipient movement such as a button press). We employed a novel continuous movement stop task to investigate planned and unplanned motor inhibition during ongoing movement. EEG was recorded during task performance from individuals with PD (OFF and ON dopaminergic medication) and age-matched healthy controls (HC). Participants were of any sex. We found that the time it took for participants to stop a continuous movement was impaired (i.e., long...

This resource was featured in the NeuroJobs Career Center. Visit today to search the world’s largest source of neuroscience opportunities. Cynthia Chestek brings an electrical engineering approach to discover how to allow movement of multiple fingers simultaneously following paralysis or amputation, using a brain-machine interface. In this interview she recounts the moment she knew she'd pursue a career in neuroscience, describes the rewards of that career, and looks to the future of neural interface technology, including neural networks. She also offers advice to women in engineering for a successful graduate education and career. This article is part of Neuronline's interview series "Entrepreneurial Women Combining Neuroscience, Engineering, and Tech," which highlights the career paths and scientific accomplishments of female leaders and role models who are creatively bridging disciplines to improve lives.

In this webinar, three experts on career development and mentoring will offer advice for mentoring postdocs through career transitions. Speakers will discuss the value of establishing a strong mentor-protégé relationship, the steps to successfully selecting a career path, and the importance of identifying and developing transferable skills in the laboratory. Faculty will understand implementable steps for supporting trainees who are charting various career paths. Postdocs attending Session 1 will learn what they can do to maximize relationships with their mentors and understand how to structure mentoring relationships with future protégés.

Studying locomotor activity in animal models is crucial for understanding physiological, behavioral, and pathological processes. This study aimed to develop an artificial intelligence-based tracking system called Goblotrop, designed to localize rodents within their laboratory environment. The Goblotrop system uses two infrared cameras to record videos of rodents in their home cages. A neural network analyzes these videos to determine the rodent’s position at each time point. By tracking changes in position over time, the system provides detailed insights into rodent behavior, including speed, mobility, and climbing activity. To evaluate the system’s reliability, we utilized a starvation-induced hyperactivity model, employed as a female mouse model for anorexia nervosa. This model is characterized by pronounced hyperactivity, typically assessed using electronically monitored running wheels. Both the Goblotrop system and running wheel measurements demonstrated that starvation increases food-anticipatory acti...

Although clinical and experimental evidence highlight the role of thalamus in voluntary movement production, the involvement of thalamus in complex motor tasks such as speech production remains to be elucidated. The present study examined neural activity within bilateral thalamus in 13 participants (7 female) with essential tremor undergoing awake deep brain stimulation implantation surgery, using three speech tasks of varied complexity (vowel vocalization, a diadochokinetic task [DDK] and sentence repetition). Low frequency neural activity (delta/theta band) activity was significantly increased during sentence and DDK compared to vowel vocalization in the bilateral motor thalamus, and to a lesser extent increased for sentence repetition compared to DDK. Moreover, there was prominent pre-speech beta band activity, with a greater decrease in the power of beta activity for sentence compared to DDK and vowel vocalization. The greater low frequency activity in more complex speech tasks may reflect the allocati...