Virtual reality (VR) has gained popularity in recent years, integrating with conventional music stimulation (MS), action observation (AO), and motor imagination (MI). It offers promising opportunities for developing innovative rehabilitation treatments, though the mechanisms underlying these effects remain unclear. This study aims to compare brain activation and network mechanisms following the fusion of MS, AO, and MI with VR. Fifty healthy participants were recruited and underwent functional near-infrared spectroscopy synchronization with three VR tasks: MS (VRMS), AO (VRAO), and MI (VRMI). The results indicate that VRMS significantly enhances functional connectivity of the bilateral primary sensory cortex (S1), premotor cortex, and supplementary motor area (PM&SMA) compared with VRAO and VRMI. Furthermore, the interaction among the bilateral PM&SMA, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and right primary motor cortex (M1) regions is notably stronger with VRMS than with the other VR tasks. These findings...

Our ability to shift from one emotion to the next allows us to adapt our behaviors to a constantly changing and often uncertain environment. Although previous studies have identified cortical and subcortical regions involved in affective responding, none have shown how these regions track and represent transitions between different emotional states, nor how such responses are modulated based on the recent emotional context. To study this, we commissioned new musical pieces designed to systematically move participants ( N  = 39, 20 males and 19 females) through different emotional states during fMRI and to manipulate the emotional context in which different participants heard a musical motif. Using a combination of data-driven (hidden Markov modeling) and hypothesis-driven methods, we confirmed that spatiotemporal patterns of activation along the temporoparietal axis reflect transitions between music-evoked emotions. We found that the spatial and temporal signatures of these neural response patterns, as wel...

Recent fMRI studies reported transformed representations between perception and visual working memory (VWM) in the human early visual cortex (EVC). This is inconsistent with the still widely cited original proposal of the sensory account of VWM, which argues for a shared perception-VWM representation based on successful cross-decoding of the two representations. Although cross-decoding was usually lower than within-VWM decoding and consistent with transformed VWM representations, this has been attributed to experimental differences between perceptual and VWM tasks: once they are equated, the same representation is expected to exist in both. Including human participants of both sexes, this study compared target and distractor representations during the same VWM delay period for the same objects, thereby equating experimental differences. Even with strong VWM representations present throughout the occipitotemporal cortex (OTC, including EVC) and posterior parietal cortex (PPC), fMRI cross-decoding revealed s...

Mazes are a fundamental and widespread tool in behavior and systems neuroscience research in rodents, especially in spatial navigation and spatial memory investigations in ad libitum behaving animals. However, their form and inflexibility often restrict potential experimental paradigms that involve multiple or adaptive maze designs. Unique layouts often lead to elevated costs, whether financially or in terms of time investment from scientists. To alleviate these issues, we have developed an automated, modular maze system that is flexible and scalable. This open-source Adapt-A-Maze (AAM) system will allow for experiments with multiple track configurations in rapid succession. Additionally, the flexibility can expedite prototyping of behavioral paradigms. Automation ensures less variability in experimental parameters and higher throughput. Finally, the standardized componentry enhances experimental repeatability within labs and replicability across labs. Our maze was successfully used across labs, in multipl...

Humans exhibit laterality preferences, with handedness being the most extensively studied. Accordingly, brain–handedness associations are well documented. However, laterality preferences extend beyond handedness to include other limbs, such as footedness and eyedness. Despite these distinctions, brain–footedness and brain–eyedness associations using resting-state functional connectomes remain largely unexplored. We utilize two large datasets, the Human Connectome Project-Development (HCP-D) and Human Connectome Project-Aging (HCP-A), to study the associations between sidedness (i.e., handedness, footedness, and eyedness) and whole-brain functional connectomes. While hand and foot preferences were correlated significantly, they explained <40% of the variance, suggesting some distinctions between measures. For both cohorts, significant associations between handedness connectivity were observed [ p  < 0.05, network-based statistics (NBS) corrected]. Notable patterns include increased connectivity for left-han...

Neuroscientists are increasingly initiating large-scale collaborations which bring together tens to hundreds of researchers. At this scale, such projects can tackle big challenges and engage diverse participants. Inspired by projects in mathematics, we set out to test the feasibility of widening access to such projects even further, by running a massively collaborative project in computational neuroscience. The key difference, with prior neuroscientific efforts, being that our entire project (code, results, and writing) was public from the outset, and that anyone could participate. To achieve this, we launched a public Git repository, with code for training spiking neural networks to solve a sound localization task via surrogate gradient descent. We then invited anyone, anywhere to use this code as a springboard for exploring questions of interest to them, and encouraged participants to share their work both asynchronously through Git and synchronously at online workshops. Our hope was that the resulting r...

Neuroimaging data reveal that a functional locus ceruleus-noradrenaline (LC-NA) system is critical in maintaining cognitive performance during aging. However, older adults show reduced LC integrity and altered functional connectivity, demonstrating both structural declines and dysfunction. The LC-NA system mediates mechanisms of attention processing and eye tracking studies have shown that older adults are slower and more distractible compared with young adults in visual search tasks. Prior studies have shown that mindfulness meditation modulates LC noradrenergic activity, increases gray matter volume in the brainstem, and improves attentional control. Thus, in a preregistered longitudinal study, we investigated whether 30 d of guided mindfulness meditation using a mobile application improved attentional control measured with eye movements. We hypothesized that older adults would show greater benefits from the mindfulness intervention compared with young adults. In two oculomotor search tasks, we identifie...

The development of Schwann cells, which myelinate axons in the peripheral nervous system, is critically dependent on MEK/ERK signaling. While Ets-domain transcription factors ( Etv1 , Etv4 , Etv5 ) are downstream effectors of this pathway, only Etv1 has been specifically linked to Schwann cell development. Here, we examined the functions of Etv5 , which is expressed in Schwann cell precursors, neural crest cells and satellite glia, at embryonic stages and at low levels in mature Schwann cells. In hypomorphic Etv5tm1Kmm homozygous mutant mice, no overt defects in Schwann cell differentiation were observed at embryonic stages. To study the function of Etv5 in juvenile (postnatal days 21–30) and mature adult (6 month) mice, we generated Etv5 conditional knock-outs (cKOs) using a Sox10-Cre driver. In juvenile male Etv5 -cKO mice, Schwann cell numbers increased normally after a peripheral nerve crush injury, a response that was attenuated by 6 months. Transmission electron microscopy of the naive sciatic nerve ...

There is a growing imperative to understand the neurophysiological impact of our rapidly changing and diverse technological, social, chemical, and physical environments. To untangle the multidimensional and interacting effects requires data at scale across diverse populations, taking measurement out of a controlled lab environment and into the field. Electroencephalography (EEG), which has correlates with various environmental factors as well as cognitive and mental health outcomes, has the advantage of both portability and cost-effectiveness for this purpose. However, with numerous field researchers spread across diverse locations, data quality issues and researcher idle time due to insufficient participants can quickly become unmanageable and expensive problems. In programs we have established in India and Tanzania, we demonstrate that with appropriate training, structured teams, and daily automated analysis and feedback on data quality, nonspecialists can reliably collect EEG data alongside various surv...

Accurate perception of the direction of gravity relies on the integration of multisensory information, particularly from the visual and vestibular systems, within the brain. Although a recent study of patients with cerebellar degeneration suggested a cerebellar role in visuo-vestibular interaction in the perception of gravitational direction, direct evidence remains limited. To address this gap, we conducted two experiments with 42 healthy participants to evaluate the impact of repetitive 1 Hz transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the posterior cerebellar vermis on visual dependency, quantified by the subjective visual vertical bias induced by rotating optokinetic stimulation (OKS). Electric field simulations in high-resolution generic head models were used to ensure focal stimulation of the cerebellum at the group level. The results demonstrated that the rTMS applied to the vermis significantly attenuated the OKS-induced shift in visual vertical (SVV) bias. This effect was not observed when stimul...