Previous studies emphasize the importance of prestimulus neural oscillations in shaping endogenous brain states that substantially impact perceptual outcomes. However, what features in such oscillations drive perception remains unknown. Furthermore, research has shown that non-oscillatory activity is also important for cognitive processing. However, their interaction prior to perceiving a multisensory stimulus remains unexplored. In this human EEG study (n=18, 10 males and 8 females), we investigated the role of prestimulus periodic power and aperiodic activity in modulating perception of the widely studied McGurk illusion on a trial-by-trial basis. Using logistic mixed-effect models, we reveal that the illusion perception is associated with reduced prestimulus alpha (8–12 Hz) and beta (15–30 Hz) power over frontal and occipital regions, increased theta (4–7 Hz) power in parietal, central, and occipital regions, and increased gamma (31–45 Hz) power across the scalp. Furthermore, lower aperiodic offset and ...

Epileptic seizures involve the brain transitioning from a resting state to an abnormal state of synchronized bursting, akin to a bifurcation in dynamical systems where a parameter shift triggers a qualitative change in behavior. A comprehensive model was previously developed that used dynamical equations capable of simulating 16 “dynamotypes” of seizures that span the full range of theoretical first-order dynamics. The current work is a tool to understand and implement this model with the goal of generating a wide range of synthetic seizures. We present a dynamical atlas of all 16 possible onset-offset bifurcation combinations, each characterized by distinct features in simulated EEG-like recordings. We include a tutorial and GUI that generates diverse simulated seizures. In addition, we include methods to add realistic noise and filtering effects to enhance their resemblance to human EEG data. This toolbox has two purposes: it is a practical, educational demonstration of the dynamical principles underlyin...

How can researchers advocate effectively, especially at the local level?

Victoria Prince is the dean for graduate affairs in the biological sciences division at the University of Chicago. As a co-PI on her university’s Broadening Experience in Science Training (BEST) Award, Prince works to ensure that trainees’ are well-equipped to pursue various career paths. Here, she discusses how.

Walt Gall, a strategy consultant for Biotechnology Enterprises, discusses the skills he developed during his PhD program and how they help him in his current role.

There is no shortage of “brain talk” in the public arena. If you watch TEDx talks, read blogs, or watch news programs, you will undoubtedly hear references to the brain. It’s exciting that neuroscience is being discussed and captivating the public’s interest — and that the public wants to know even more.

Perception is shaped by both the physical properties of stimuli and their contextual presentation, often leading to systematic biases such as the central tendency effect, where perceptual judgments shift toward the average of the stimulus set. This study explored the central tendency bias in vibrotactile perception, an area that has received limited attention, while also replicating its well-documented occurrence in color perception to validate previous findings. Using a within-subjects design, participants (5 males, 15 females) completed color and vibrotactile discrimination tasks, each consisting of three blocks, which comprised systematically shifted stimulus sets. In an established virtual reality color task, stimuli ranged from yellow-green to blue-green, while in the vibrotactile task, stimuli varied in vibration intensity around a baseline distribution. As predicted, the point of subjective equality (PSE) shifted toward the mean of the stimulus sets in both tasks, confirming the presence of a centra...

The association between brain structural connectivity (BSC) and different subtypes of stroke has not been reported. The current study determined whether some BSC patterns may contribute to the risk of stroke. A two-sample, bidirectional, multivariate Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was performed. Genome-wide aggregated data for BSC were obtained by accessing the GWAS directory of the European Bioinformatics Institute (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/gwas). Whole-brain diffusion MRI tractograms for 26,300 UK Biobank participants were reconstructed with the MRtrix3 standard pipeline followed by SIFT2 re-weighting. A co-localization analysis was performed to determine whether the association between BSC and stroke was driven by loci within genomic regions. Reverse MR was performed to evaluate potential stroke-induced changes in BSC. Left hemisphere (LH) somatomotor network-to-LH salience /ventral attention network white matter (WM) structural connectivity (SC) [OR = 1.30, P = 5.96×10−4, P value after Bonferroni c...

Sleep is an evolutionarily conserved behavioral state whose regulation is poorly understood.

Networking is about exploring career options and trajectories and, most importantly, about building relationships. Before you can see the tangible benefits of networking, you need to lay the groundwork. Here are three steps to get you started.