Animal learning can be analyzed on two timescales: task acquisition across training sessions and motivation fluctuations within training sessions. How do variations in motor and neurophysiologic activity relate to task performance over these timescales? Here, this question was examined in head-fixed mice performing a whisker-based sensory discrimination task. Male mice were trained for 12-14 daily sessions on a go/no-go task, each lasting approximately one hour to capture spontaneous performance fluctuations over minutes. Simultaneous to task performance, “non-performance variables” were tracked, including wheel running, pupil size, eyelid aperture and sensory cortical activity. First, motivation states were defined based on performance tendencies over minutes, leading to three state categories: persistent , disengaged , or attentive . Non-performance variables were found to predict these states independent of task correctness. Then, when further parsing these states by the go/no-go outcomes of hit, miss, ...

Melody Schwenk is a PhD student studying the intersection of language, cognition, and education at Gallaudet University. Schwenk’s parents discovered that she was Deaf when she was two and a half years old. She also discovered at a young age that she was interested in science. Through every stage of her life, from learning ASL and spoken English at an early intervention school, to now working in the Action & Brain Lab at Gallaudet, Schwenk aims to show others that it is possible to succeed in science and be Deaf.

Melody Schwenk is a PhD student studying the intersection of language, cognition, and education at Gallaudet University. Schwenk’s parents discovered that she was Deaf when she was two and a half years old. She also discovered at a young age that she was interested in science. Through every stage of her life, from learning ASL and spoken English at an early intervention school, to now working in the Action & Brain Lab at Gallaudet, Schwenk aims to show others that it is possible to succeed in science and be Deaf.

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Complex problems often allow multiple paths to a solution. Choosing and taking the best path is an important part of the executive cognition that underpins intelligent problem-solving behaviour. However, once a path is chosen, the motor system must be activated for executing it. This interface between problem-solving and self-generated action has rarely been studied. We recorded EEG movement-related potentials while 25 participants (7 males, 18 females) performed the “Tower of London” problem-solving task. In a control condition, participants merely followed instructed steps without planning for any goal, and thus without any sense that their movements solved a problem. Readiness potentials (RPs) preceding actions showed a more sustained preparatory negativity for self-generated than stimulus-driven movements. Critically, this effect was most pronounced at the first move of a sequence and diminished at later stages, indicating that preparatory activity is closely linked to the planning demands of sequence ...

With repeated exposure to addictive drugs, there is a shift from drug abuse to drug addiction that is mediated by the transition from goal-directed to habitual control. It is well known that the development of habitual control over behavior relies upon cell-type-specific synaptic changes in both D1 and D2 medium spiny neurons (MSNs) in dorsal striatum. Specifically, habitual behavior is mediated by increased synaptic strength in D1 and D2 MSNs in dorsolateral striatum (DLS), suggesting similar cell-type-specific synaptic changes may underlie the development of habitual cocaine-seeking behavior. However, cell-type-specific synaptic changes have not been evaluated in DLS in this context. Therefore, we trained male rats to self-administer cocaine in a self-administration paradigm that allows for differentiation of goal-directed vs. habitual cocaine-seeking behavior. Moreover, we used a viral vector under a D2-specific promoter to fluorescently label D2 MSNs with eYFP in DLS. Evoked excitatory postsynaptic cur...

In this one-hour long webinar, you will learn key points of drafting and submitting a scientific abstract. Learn how to prepare your submission for Neuroscience 2024, including what information to include, key deadlines, and what materials you need to submit.

Decision-making is a continuous process that manifests as evolving sequences of motor movements while animals navigate the sensory environment. Studying decision-making in a naturalistic setting has been challenging as restrictions are typically imposed on subjects’ motor actions in the laboratory. We utilized a novel paradigm in which animals move freely throughout the decision-making process to examine the sequence and timing of motor actions predictive of decisions. We trained freely moving ferrets (2 males, 3 females), highly visual carnivores, to perform visual discrimination tasks and measured their head position and eye movements to assess the temporal dynamics of heading and saccades during visually guided decisions. We discovered that heading revealed ferrets’ “turning time” per trial, signaling their choices, and heading on its own best predicted ferrets’ decisions. Ferrets made decisions quickly and decisively, although total trial durations varied across animals. Importantly, initial heading, a...

You’ve chosen your journal and submitted your paper, but what happens next? Join this hour-long webinar to hear Editors-in-Chief Sabine Kastner (JNeurosci) and Mariela Zirlinger (Neuron) discuss how editors and reviewers are assigned, desk rejections, and responding to reviewer feedback.

Vocal communication is essential for social behavior, yet the distributed brain networks underlying vocal production remain elusive. Male mice produce ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) during courtship, providing a rodent model for investigating neural circuits underlying innate vocal communication. Here, we used a double-labelling strategy that combined genetic activity tagging (TRAP2) and c-Fos immunohistochemistry to generate an unbiased, whole-brain map of neuronal ensembles activated during courtship-induced USV production in adult male mice. By tracking neuronal activity across 25 brain regions during two independent courtship sessions, we identified populations consistently recruited during social vocalization. Quantitative analyses revealed robust activation in the caudal periaqueductal gray, confirming its established role as a hub for vocal motor control. Importantly, correlation analyses between neuronal activity and USV count distinguished regions specifically linked to vocal output from those as...