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Mentoring the next generation of neuroscientists from historically excluded backgrounds brings several challenges. Successful mentor-mentee relationships are critical for addressing these challenges. Rodriguez-Romaguera and Quirk reflect on lessons learned from their cross-racial mentor-mentee relationship that could apply to many mentors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this introduction to a thematic issue dealing with free will, some possibilities of free will in different physical, social, and technological worlds, as well as discussions of the possibilities are considered. What are the possibilities and limitations of free will in various other worlds differing from our world? What are the possibilities and limitations of free will in different species, both in our world and in other hypothetical worlds, including future species, naturally evolving, and artificially modified? What are the possibilities and limitations of free will related to the development of AI? How can the diversity of free will levels in an agent be related to possible levels (depth) of its self-knowledge? What can agents differing in levels of self-knowledge know and think about the issue of free will? How do different societies (social worlds) support and inhibit different manifestations of free will in different areas? What is the role of hard neurodeterminism and "mindless neuroscience" in general neuroscience? What are ethical aspects of the questions, including the initial one: "If a neuroscientist denies free will, how can they write a text of voluntary informed consent and propose to sign it?". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Narratives fundamentally shape the way we remember real-life experiences. However, neuroscientists have only begun to understand how narratives impact the way our brains support memory. In this opinion piece, I illustrate how the hippocampus, a key region of the brain for memory, transforms our experiences into larger narratives in memory. Furthermore, I argue that the hippocampus provides a biological basis for "intertextuality" -- that is, all experiences or texts may be necessarily understood and remembered in relation to other experiences or texts. An intertextual hippocampus has tangible consequences for our lives and our art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the second half of the 20th century, neuroscientists across North America developed automated systems for use in their research laboratories. Their decisions to do so were complex and contingent, partly a result of global reasons, such as the need to increase efficiency and flexibility, and partly a result of local reasons, such as the need to amend perceived biases of earlier research methodologies. Automated methods were advancements but raised several challenges. Transferring a system from one location to another required that certain components of the system be standardized, such as the hardware, software, and programming language. This proved difficult as commercial manufacturers lacked incentives to create standardized products for the few neuroscientists working towards automation. Additionally, investing in automated systems required massive amounts of time, labor, funding, and computer expertise. Moreover, neuroscientists did not agree on the value of automation. My brief history investigates Karl Pribram's decisions to expand his newly created automated system by standardizing equipment, programming, and protocols. Although he was an eminent Stanford neuroscientist with strong institutional support and computer know-how, the development and transfer of his automated behavioral testing system was riddled with challenges. For Pribram and neuroscience more generally, automation was not so automatic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Akdeniz Sanat is the property of Akdeniz University, Faculty of Fine Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The NINDS-funded BRAINS Program for neuroscientists from underrepresented and marginalized groups has positively impacted its participants and the field. We discuss three lessons to advance excellence and diversity: center relationships, provide ongoing engagement, and leverage programmatic expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuroscientists studying the neural correlates of mouse behavior often lack access to the brain-wide activity patterns elicited during a specific task of interest. Fortunately, large-scale imaging is becoming increasingly accessible thanks to modalities such as Ca2+ imaging and functional ultrasound (fUS). However, these and other techniques often involve challenging cranial window procedures and are difficult to combine with other neuroscience tools. We address this need with an open-source 3D-printable cranial implant—the COMBO (ChrOnic Multimodal imaging and Behavioral Observation) window. The COMBO window enables chronic imaging of large portions of the brain in head-fixed mice while preserving orofacial movements. We validate the COMBO window stability using both brain-wide fUS and multisite two-photon imaging. Moreover, we demonstrate how the COMBO window facilitates the combination of optogenetics, fUS, and electrophysiology in the same animals to study the effects of circuit perturbations at both the brain-wide and single-neuron level. Overall, the COMBO window provides a versatile solution for performing multimodal brain recordings in head-fixed mice. Whole-brain optical imaging approaches are often applied through a cranial window but are limited by their low spatio-temporal resolution. This study designs and characterizes a chronic cranial implant called the COMBO window that provides a larger field of view and is compatible for multiple imaging techniques across scales in head-fixed mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relating brain activity to cognition and behavior is the primary goal of cognitive neuroscience. Neuroscientists are increasingly summarizing the brain dynamics that underlie cognition and behavior in terms of brain states. Brain states have traditionally been defined as specific spatial patterns of activity or functional connectivity. We propose that brain states should be conceptualized as waves – recurring patterns of activity that sequentially propagate with different delay times. This definition emphasizes both the spatial and temporal patterns of brain activity. There is ample evidence of wave-like activity in the brain at multiple scales and levels. This emerging literature supports the broader adoption of a wave perspective of brain activity. Specifically, a brain state can be described as a set of recurring, sequential patterns of propagating brain activity, namely a wave. We examine a collective body of experimental work investigating wave-like properties. Based on these works, we consider brain states as waves using a scale-agnostic framework across time and space. Emphasis is placed on the sequentiality and periodicity associated with brain activity. We conclude by discussing the implications, prospects, and experimental opportunities of this framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Functional interactions between brain regions can be viewed as a network, enabling neuroscientists to investigate brain function through network science. Here, we systematically evaluate 768 data-processing pipelines for network reconstruction from resting-state functional MRI, evaluating the effect of brain parcellation, connectivity definition, and global signal regression. Our criteria seek pipelines that minimise motion confounds and spurious test-retest discrepancies of network topology, while being sensitive to both inter-subject differences and experimental effects of interest. We reveal vast and systematic variability across pipelines' suitability for functional connectomics. Inappropriate choice of data-processing pipeline can produce results that are not only misleading, but systematically so, with the majority of pipelines failing at least one criterion. However, a set of optimal pipelines consistently satisfy all criteria across different datasets, spanning minutes, weeks, and months. We provide a full breakdown of each pipeline's performance across criteria and datasets, to inform future best practices in functional connectomics. The effects of different choices on preprocessing pipelines for functional connectomics remain unclear. Here, the authors systematically evaluate a multitude of pipelines on resting-state fMRI, revealing a number of optimal pipelines for functional brain network analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stanislas Dehaene is a cognitive neuroscientist elucidating the biological mechanisms that give rise to human perception and cognition. In a conversation with Neuron , he talks about his ongoing interest in consciousness research, the role of theory in neuroscience, and his current work on education and the science of learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trial-averaged metrics, e.g. tuning curves or population response vectors, are a ubiquitous way of characterizing neuronal activity. But how relevant are such trial-averaged responses to neuronal computation itself? Here we present a simple test to estimate whether average responses reflect aspects of neuronal activity that contribute to neuronal processing. The test probes two assumptions implicitly made whenever average metrics are treated as meaningful representations of neuronal activity: Reliability: Neuronal responses repeat consistently enough across trials that they convey a recognizable reflection of the average response to downstream regions. Behavioural relevance: If a single-trial response is more similar to the average template, it is more likely to evoke correct behavioural responses. We apply this test to two data sets: (1) Two-photon recordings in primary somatosensory cortices (S1 and S2) of mice trained to detect optogenetic stimulation in S1; and (2) Electrophysiological recordings from 71 brain areas in mice performing a contrast discrimination task. Under the highly controlled settings of Data set 1, both assumptions were largely fulfilled. In contrast, the less restrictive paradigm of Data set 2 met neither assumption. Simulations predict that the larger diversity of neuronal response preferences, rather than higher cross-trial reliability, drives the better performance of Data set 1. We conclude that when behaviour is less tightly restricted, average responses do not seem particularly relevant to neuronal computation, potentially because information is encoded more dynamically. Most importantly, we encourage researchers to apply this simple test of computational relevance whenever using trial-averaged neuronal metrics, in order to gauge how representative cross-trial averages are in a given context. Author summary: Neuronal activity is highly dynamic—our brain never responds to the same situation in exactly the same way. How do we extract information from such dynamic signals? The classical answer is: averaging neuronal activity across repetitions of the same stimulus to detect its consistent aspects. This logic is widespread—it is hard to find a neuroscience study that does not contain averages. But how well do averages represent the computations that happen in the brain moment by moment? We developed a simple test that probes two assumptions implicit in averaging: Reliability: Neuronal responses repeat consistently enough across stimulus repetitions that the average remains recognizable. Behavioural relevance: Neuronal responses that are more similar to the average, are more likely to evoke correct behaviour. We apply this test to two example data sets featuring population recordings in mice performing perceptual tasks. We show that both assumptions were largely fulfilled in the first data set, but not in the second; suggesting that the relevance of averaging varies across contexts, e.g. due to experimental control levels and neuronal diversity. Most importantly, we encourage neuroscientists to use our test to gauge whether averages reflect informative aspects of neuronal activity in their data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computational modeling helps neuroscientists to integrate and explain experimental data obtained through neurophysiological and anatomical studies, thus providing a mechanism by which we can better understand and predict the principles of neural computation. Computational modeling of the neuronal pathways of the visual cortex has been successful in developing theories of biological motion processing. This review describes a range of computational models that have been inspired by neurophysiological experiments. Theories of local motion integration and pattern motion processing are presented, together with suggested neurophysiological experiments designed to test those hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuroscientists employ a range of methods and generate increasing amounts of data describing brain structure and function. The anatomical locations from which observations or measurements originate represent a common context for data interpretation, and a starting point for identifying data of interest. However, the multimodality and abundance of brain data pose a challenge for efforts to organize, integrate, and analyze data based on anatomical locations. While structured metadata allow faceted data queries, different types of data are not easily represented in a standardized and machine-readable way that allow comparison, analysis, and queries related to anatomical relevance. To this end, three-dimensional (3D) digital brain atlases provide frameworks in which disparate multimodal and multilevel neuroscience data can be spatially represented. We propose to represent the locations of different neuroscience data as geometric objects in 3D brain atlases. Such geometric objects can be specified in a standardized file format and stored as location metadata for use with different computational tools. We here present the Locare workflow developed for defining the anatomical location of data elements from rodent brains as geometric objects. We demonstrate how the workflow can be used to define geometric objects representing multimodal and multilevel experimental neuroscience in rat or mouse brain atlases. We further propose a collection of JSON schemas (LocareJSON) for specifying geometric objects by atlas coordinates, suitable as a starting point for co-visualization of different data in an anatomical context and for enabling spatial data queries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to investigate attitudes toward brain donation and perceptions of medical research that influence brain donation among African Americans. Cross-sectional surveys were administered to African American community members (n = 227). Findings indicate that only 27% of respondents were willing to donate their brain. As medical mistrust was not found to be a significant barrier to research participation, there may be opportunity to increase brain donation by providing information about Alzheimer's disease and brain donation to potential donors and their families so that informed decisions about participating in research can be made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many of the important research advances in understanding and treating Parkinson's disease never leave the academic sphere, as communication barriers limit accessibility for, and engagement with, broader audiences. To increase meaningful dialogue between academic researchers and community stakeholders, Piece of Mind: Parkinson's brought together neuroscientists, people with Parkinson's disease (PD), and artists to co-create a knowledge translation performance based on scientific research and lived experience. The filmed, feature-length performance engages the viewer emotionally and intellectually using circus, dance, music, poetry, and patient testimonials. We provide an overview of our participatory process and a scene-by-scene description of the performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the strong connection between the brain and the endocrine system, highlighting how hormones can impact brain functions and behavior. It introduces the concept of endocrine disrupters, which are exogenous chemicals that interfere with hormone action and can have harmful effects on both humans and wildlife. The article emphasizes the need for further research and standardized testing to identify and understand the potential impacts of these disrupters. It also explores specific studies on the effects of various chemicals on neuroplasticity, neurogenesis, and behavior, as well as the importance of investigating the impact of disrupters on pregnant and lactating individuals. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of standardized methodologies and validated tests to assess the risks associated with exposure to these chemicals. [Extracted from the article]

Neuroscientists rely on distributed spatio-temporal patterns of neural activity to understand how neural units contribute to cognitive functions and behavior. However, the extent to which neural activity reliably indicates a unit's causal contribution to the behavior is not well understood. To address this issue, we provide a systematic multi-site perturbation framework that captures time-varying causal contributions of elements to a collectively produced outcome. Applying our framework to intuitive toy examples and artificial neural networks revealed that recorded activity patterns of neural elements may not be generally informative of their causal contribution due to activity transformations within a network. Overall, our findings emphasize the limitations of inferring causal mechanisms from neural activities and offer a rigorous lesioning framework for elucidating causal neural contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Polyvagal Theory (PVT) of the US-American neuroscientist Stephen W. Porges can mean much more to therapists than just another narrative for addressing the mind-bodyproblem. Its impact on philosophy and science since the 17th century can hardly be underestimated, right up to the question of whether terms such as »psychic« or »mental« should still be used. This article attempts to contextualize Porges’ theory in a larger framework, in philosophical, neuroscientific and therapeutic implications of PVT. A categorization of three central concepts (neuroception, co-regulation and social engagement system) leads to the further discussed question of what (co-regulatory) »language« we can speak together in therapy to encounter and to heal each other. A short epilogue addresses the criticism of PVT before concluding by highlighting the chances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australian neuroscientists at the turn of the twentieth century and in the succeeding decades faced formidable obstacles to communication and supply due to their geographical isolation from centers of learning in Europe and North America. Consequently, they had to spend significant periods of their lives overseas for training and experience. The careers of six pioneers—Laura Forster, James Wilson, Grafton Elliot Smith, Alfred Campbell, Raymond Dart, and John Eccles—are presented in the form of vignettes that address their lives and most enduring scientific contributions. All six were medically trained and, although they never collaborated directly with one another, they were linked by their neuroanatomical interests and by shared mentors, who included Nobelists Ramon y Cajal and Charles Sherrington. By the 1960s, as the so-called "tyranny of distance" was overcome by advances in communication and transport technology, local collaborative groups of neuroscientists emerged in several Australian university departments that built on the individual achievements of these pioneers. This in turn led to the establishment of the Australasian Neuroscience Society in 1981. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article supplements the well-established idea of the clinician's illusion by pointing to some of the background issues which make the clinician's illusion possible and introducing the idea of the neuroscientist's illusion. The neuroscientist's illusion refers to a series of mistakes made by biologically oriented psychiatrists and neuroscientific researchers, which reveal a discernible pattern. These include a general overstepping of evidence-based findings and a tendency to confuse hoped-for results with actual results. Most clearly, we see a tendency toward optimistic and illusory confirmation of underlying theories that themselves have never been proven and remain unelaborated. Much of this work reveals a decontextualized understanding of social suffering and locates mental illness/social suffering within the individual's psychology or biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this talk with Neuron , Christof Koch, a physicist and neuroscientist, advocates for a pragmatic program to track the footprints of consciousness in the brain and for team science, explains the recent pseudo-controversy regarding integrated information theory of consciousness, and speaks about the joy of exploring the mysteries around us. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"But what's the mechanism? And what's the behavioral relevance?" These very common questions reflect that obvious fact that neural systems can be described at multiple levels. They further reflect the fact that many neuroscientists view the achievement of such multilevel descriptions as an important accomplishment. Neuroscientists have achieved a remarkable level of understanding at each different level, yet comprehensive descriptions that bridge across multiple levels remain a substantial challenge in neuroscience. Many of us may take the importance and the considerable difficulty of this endeavour for granted and, therefore, expect that it will be somehow solved in the future as we make more progress. In contrast, I argue here that concerted action is needed to address this outstanding challenge. I discuss the need to bridge different levels and model systems in neuroscience. I briefly review key concepts from philosophy of science that can create a conceptual framework to do so. Finally, I suggest concrete "bottom‐up" and "top‐down" steps the neuroscience community can take to make progress in this direction. I hope these suggestions will serve an initial basis for further fruitful discussions that will advance us towards achieving this important goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frode Fonnum, a highly respected neuroscientist and toxicologist, has passed away at the age of 86. He was known for his groundbreaking research on neurotransmitters in the brain, particularly GABA and glutamate. Fonnum also played a crucial role in developing protective equipment against chemical weapons and studying environmental toxins. He was widely admired for his intellect, sense of humor, and supportiveness, and his wife, Marit Fonnum, was recognized for her unwavering support throughout his career. Fonnum's contributions to the field will be remembered and appreciated by colleagues worldwide. [Extracted from the article]

The capacity for language is a defining property of our species, yet despite decades of research, evidence on its neural basis is still mixed and a generalized consensus is difficult to achieve. We suggest that this is partly caused by researchers defining "language" in different ways, with focus on a wide range of phenomena, properties, and levels of investigation. Accordingly, there is very little agreement among cognitive neuroscientists of language on the operationalization of fundamental concepts to be investigated in neuroscientific experiments. Here, we review chains of derivation in the cognitive neuroscience of language, focusing on how the hypothesis under consideration is defined by a combination of theoretical and methodological assumptions. We first attempt to disentangle the complex relationship between linguistics, psychology, and neuroscience in the field. Next, we focus on how conclusions that can be drawn from any experiment are inherently constrained by auxiliary assumptions, both theoretical and methodological, on which the validity of conclusions drawn rests. These issues are discussed in the context of classical experimental manipulations as well as study designs that employ novel approaches such as naturalistic stimuli and computational modeling. We conclude by proposing that a highly interdisciplinary field such as the cognitive neuroscience of language requires researchers to form explicit statements concerning the theoretical definitions, methodological choices, and other constraining factors involved in their work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For over a century, scientists have sought to uncover the neurological correlates of intelligence. With recent advancements in neuroimaging technology, neuroscientists have been converging upon the neurological correlates of intelligence. This review compiles the most current and relevant evidence, from all perspectives, concerning the manifestation of intelligence in the brain. A network-based approach to intelligence was utilized during this review, relying on the flexible interactions between the intrinsic connectivity networks to explain intelligence. Indeed, the brain's most important intrinsic connectivity networks were the frontoparietal control network and the cingulo-opercular network, the brain's two control networks. The review begins with understanding the neural correlates of intelligence task processing and intelligence differences. Then, the final section of this review reveals the two most important threads connecting the various perspectives on intelligence: neural networks and neural flexibility. Through these threads, this review attempts to identify the neurological core of intelligence, opening the door for convergence upon a holistic approach to intelligence in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A common neuroscience application of Pavlovian fear conditioning is to manipulate neuron-type activity, pair a cue with foot shock, then measure cue-elicited freezing in a novel context. If the manipulation reduces freezing, the neuron type is implicated in Pavlovian fear conditioning. This application reduces Pavlovian fear conditioning to a single concept. In this Viewpoint, I describe experiments supporting the view that Pavlovian fear conditioning refers to three distinct concepts: procedure, process, and behavior. An experimenter controls procedure, observes behavior, but infers process. Distinguishing these concepts is essential because: (1) a shock-paired cue can engage numerous processes and behaviors; (2) experimenter decisions about procedure influence the processes engaged and behaviors elicited; and (3) many processes are latent, imbuing the cue with properties that only manifest outside of the original conditioning setting. This means we could understand the complete neural basis of freezing, yet know little about the neural basis of fear. Neuroscientists can choose to use a variety of procedures to study a diversity of processes and behaviors. Manipulating neuron-type activity in multiple procedures can reveal specific, general, or complex neuron-type contributions to cue-elicited processes and behaviors. The results will be a broader and more detailed neural basis of fear with greater relevance to the spectrum of symptoms defining anxiety and stressor-related disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

John Cryan focuses his research on the intersection of the brain, gut, and microbiome. He discusses with Neuron the growing acceptance among neuroscientists for the role of the microbiome in brain function. A passionate scientific communicator, Cryan gives insight into the importance of public advocacy and seeking a broad network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simultaneously acquiring broad clinical knowledge and scientific expertise is a major challenge for young clinical scientists. Female researchers may face additional hurdles in their career, for example, due to unconscious bias. We aimed to address clinical, research, and gender‐related challenges among young female clinical neuroscientists. We implemented a peer‐led networking group dedicated to increasing clinical and scientific knowledge, improve soft skills, and encourage exchange between fellow residents. In monthly meetings, two participants hold short presentations on a clinical topic or scientific method, followed by a discussion and feedback to the presenter. Afterwards, participants network and discuss challenges they face in their daily experience. Nine neurology residents at a Swiss University Hospital with ≤3 years of training participated in the Connecting Women in Neurosciences project from August 2020 to June 2021. In a qualitative evaluation, participants reported they felt empowered by these meetings and profited from their new network. We identified several challenges in combining clinical and research activities, some of which participants perceived to be gender‐related. In addition to women‐only meetings, we will promote events addressing all interested researchers. Peer‐to‐peer networking is an easy and low‐budget intervention to encourage female residents to engage in research activities, profit from each other's expertise, and promote interdisciplinary teamwork. It can provide a protected environment to discuss and overcome in particular gender‐related challenges. We encourage young colleagues to regularly engage in structured networking activities with their local peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The BraYn association aims to bolster young neuroscientists' research endeavors through collaborative support, fundraising assistance, and events promoting knowledge exchange and collaboration across Europe. Central to its mission is the annual BraYn conference, tailored for PhD students, postdocs, junior PIs, neurologists, and clinicians. This gathering champions cooperation, offering talks by key figures, educational workshops, and opportunities for attendees to present their work, compete for grants, and engage in international scientific experiences. The conference, established in 2018, has grown substantially in attendance and industry support and was adapted during the pandemic with virtual editions. The last sixth edition in Naples (27–29 September 2023) attracted over 300 delegates, focusing on peer-to-peer discussions, interdisciplinary collaboration, and interaction with renowned speakers, solidifying its place as a flagship event for Europe's budding neuroscience researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is a pilot literature review that compares the interest of neuroethicists and neuroscientists. It aims to determine whether there is a significant gap between the neuroethical issues addressed in philosophical neuroethics journals and neuroscience journals. We retrieved 614 articles from two specialist neuroethics journals (Neuroethics and AJOB Neuroscience) and 82 neuroethicsfocused articles from three specialist neuroscience journals (Neuron, Nature Neuroscience, and Nature Reviews Neuroscience). We classified these articles in light of the neuroethical issue in question before we compared the neuroethical issues addressed in philosophical neuroethics with those addressed by neuroscientists. A notable result is a parallelism between them as a general tendency. Neuroscientific articles cover most neuroethical issues discussed by philosophical ethicists and vice versa. Subsequently, there are notable discrepancies between the two bodies of neuroethics literature. For instance, theoretical questions, such as the ethics of moral enhancement and the philosophical implications of neuroscientific findings on our conception of personhood, are more intensely discussed in philosophical-neuroethical articles. Conversely, neuroscientific articles tend to emphasize practical questions, such as how to successfully integrate ethical perspectives into scientific research projects and justifiable practices of animal-involving neuroscientific research. These observations will help us settle the common starting point of the attempt at "ethics integration" in emerging neuroscience, contributing to better governance design and neuroethical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sensory systems evolved to provide the organism with information about the environment to guide adaptive behaviour. Neuroscientists and psychologists have traditionally considered each sense independently, a legacy of Aristotle and a natural consequence of their distinct physical and anatomical bases. However, from the point of view of the organism, perception and sensorimotor behaviour are fundamentally multi-modal; after all, each modality provides complementary information about the same world. Classic studies revealed much about where and how sensory signals are combined to improve performance, but these tended to treat multisensory integration as a static, passive, bottom-up process. It has become increasingly clear how this approach falls short, ignoring the interplay between perception and action, the temporal dynamics of the decision process and the many ways by which the brain can exert top-down control of integration. The goal of this issue is to highlight recent advances on these higher order aspects of multisensory processing, which together constitute a mainstay of our understanding of complex, natural behaviour and its neural basis. This article is part of the theme issue 'Decision and control processes in multisensory perception'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Registration of data to a common frame of reference is an essential step in the analysis and integration of diverse neuroscientific data. To this end, volumetric brain atlases enable histological datasets to be spatially registered and analyzed, yet accurate registration remains expertise-dependent and slow. In order to address this limitation, we have trained a neural network, DeepSlice, to register mouse brain histological images to the Allen Brain Common Coordinate Framework, retaining registration accuracy while improving speed by >1000 fold. Navigating the complex structure of the brain poses a challenge to neuroscientists. Here, the authors have trained an AI (DeepSlice) that can automatically register brain images with speed and accuracy, thus simplifying this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long overlooked in neuroscience research, sex and gender are increasingly included as key variables potentially impacting all levels of neurobehavioral analysis. Still, many neuroscientists do not understand the difference between the terms "sex" and "gender," the complexity and nuance of each, or how to best include them as variables in research designs. This TechSights article outlines rationales for considering the influence of sex and gender across taxa, and provides technical guidance for strengthening the rigor and reproducibility of such analyses. This guidance includes the use of appropriate statistical methods for comparing groups as well as controls for key covariates of sex (e.g., total intracranial volume) and gender (e.g., income, caregiver stress, bias). We also recommend approaches for interpreting and communicating sex- and gender-related findings about the brain, which have often been misconstrued by neuroscientists and the lay public alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In most neuroscience textbooks, the thalamus is presented as a structure that relays sensory signals from visual, auditory, somatosensory, and gustatory receptors to the cerebral cortex. But the function of the thalamic nuclei goes beyond the simple transfer of information. This is especially true for the second-order nuclei, but also applies to first-order nuclei. First order thalamic nuclei receive information from the periphery, like the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN), which receives a direct input from the retina. In contrast, second order thalamic nuclei, like the pulvinar, receive minor or no input from the periphery, with the bulk of their input derived from cortical areas. The dLGN refines the information received from the retina by temporal decorrelation, thereby transmitting the most "relevant" signals to the visual cortex. The pulvinar is closely linked to virtually all visual cortical areas, and there is growing evidence that it is necessary for normal cortical processing and for aspects of visual cognition. In this article, we will discuss what we know and do not know about these structures and propose some thoughts based on the knowledge gained during the course of our careers. We hope that these thoughts will arouse curiosity about the visual thalamus and its important role, especially for the next generation of neuroscientists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study analyzes the relationship between two concepts from critical race theory – counterspaces and community cultural wealth. Counterspaces are supportive, identity-affirming community spaces, while community cultural wealth highlights the importance of the knowledge, skills, and networks used by individuals belonging to marginalized groups to successfully navigate academia. This study investigates the hypothesis that the processes operating within counterspaces serve to strengthen an individual's access to their community cultural wealth. The study site is BRAINS, a U.S.-based professional development program for early-career academic neuroscientists from underrepresented groups. Findings revealed that two types of counterspace processes (narrative identity work and direct relational transactions) and three types of community cultural wealth (aspirational capital, social capital, and navigational capital) are most salient within BRAINS. After examining the complex interactions connecting counterspace processes and community cultural wealth, we offer recommendations for future professional development programs and research designed to broaden participation in academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alan Hodgkin's and Andrew Huxley's mid-20th century work on the ionic currents generating neuron action potentials stands among that century's great scientific achievements. Unsurprisingly, that case has attracted widespread attention from neuroscientists, historians and philosophers of science. In this paper, I do not propose to add any new insights into the vast historical treatment of Hodgkin's and Huxley's scientific discoveries in that much- discussed episode. Instead, I focus on an aspect of it that hasn't received much attention: Hodgkin's and Huxley's own assessments about what their famous "quantitative description" accomplished. The "Hodgkin-Huxley model" is now widely recognized as a foundation of contemporary computational neuroscience. Yet Hodgkin and Huxley expressed serious caveats about their model and what it added to their scientific discoveries, as far back as their (1952d), in which they first presented their model. They were even more critical of its accomplishments in their Nobel Prize addresses a decade later. Most notably, as I argue here, some worries they raised about their quantitative description seem still to be relevant to current work in ongoing computational neuroscience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of Danish neuroscience starts with an account of impressive contributions made at the 17th century. Thomas Bartholin was the first Danish neuroscientist, and his disciple Nicolaus Steno became internationally one of the most prominent neuroscientists in this period. From the start, Danish neuroscience was linked to clinical disciplines. This continued in the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries with new initiatives linking basic neuroscience to clinical neurology and psychiatry in the same scientific environment. Subsequently, from the middle of the 20th century, basic neuroscience was developing rapidly within the preclinical university sector. Clinical neuroscience continued and was even reinforced during this period with important translational research and a close co‐operation between basic and clinical neuroscience. To distinguish 'history' from 'present time' is not easy, as many historical events continue in present time. Therefore, we decided to consider 'History' as new major scientific developments in Denmark, which were launched before the end of the 20th century. With this aim, scientists mentioned will have been born, with a few exceptions, no later than the early 1960s. However, we often refer to more recent publications in documenting the developments of initiatives launched before the end of the last century. In addition, several scientists have moved to Denmark after the beginning of the present century, and they certainly are contributing to the present status of Danish neuroscience—but, again, this is not the History of Danish neuroscience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the past seven decades, the Hodgkin–Huxley (HH) formalism has been an invaluable tool in the arsenal of neuroscientists, allowing for robust and reproducible modelling of ionic conductances and the electrophysiological phenomena they underlie. Despite its apparent age, its role as a cornerstone of computational neuroscience has not waned. The discovery of dendritic regenerative events mediated by ionic and synaptic conductances has solidified the importance of HH‐based models further, yielding new predictions concerning dendritic integration, synaptic plasticity and neuronal computation. These predictions are often validated through in vivo and in vitro experiments, advancing our understanding of the neuron as a biological system and emphasizing the importance of HH‐based detailed computational models as an instrument of dendritic research. In this article, we discuss recent studies in which the HH formalism is used to shed new light on dendritic function and its role in neuronal phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Canadian Open Neuroscience Platform (CONP) takes a multifaceted approach to enabling open neuroscience, aiming to make research, data, and tools accessible to everyone, with the ultimate objective of accelerating discovery. Its core infrastructure is the CONP Portal, a repository with a decentralized design, where datasets and analysis tools across disparate platforms can be browsed, searched, accessed, and shared in accordance with FAIR principles. Another key piece of CONP infrastructure is NeuroLibre, a preprint server capable of creating and hosting executable and fully reproducible scientific publications that embed text, figures, and code. As part of its holistic approach, the CONP has also constructed frameworks and guidance for ethics and data governance, provided support and developed resources to help train the next generation of neuroscientists, and has fostered and grown an engaged community through outreach and communications. In this manuscript, we provide a high-level overview of this multipronged platform and its vision of lowering the barriers to the practice of open neuroscience and yielding the associated benefits for both individual researchers and the wider community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Honey bees represent an iconic model animal for studying the underlying mechanisms affecting advanced sensory and cognitive abilities during communication among colony mates. After von Frisch discovered the functional value of the waggle dance, this complex motor pattern led ethologists and neuroscientists to study its neural mechanism, behavioral significance, and implications for a collective organization. Recent studies have revealed some of the mechanisms involved in this symbolic form of communication by using conventional behavioral and pharmacological assays, neurobiological studies, comprehensive molecular and connectome analyses, and computational models. This review summarizes several critical behavioral and brain processes and mechanisms involved in waggle dance communication. We focus on the role of neuromodulators in the dancer and the recruited follower, the interneurons and their related processing in the first mechano-processing, and the computational navigation centers of insect brains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For many, putting in doubt the existence of phenomenal consciousness is absurd since the distinction between appearance and reality does not apply to it. Many cognitive scientists and neuroscientists accept the existence of consciousness in virtue of such reasoning. The present work questions that justification. Consciousness is a concept whose scientific meaning comes from philosophy or colloquial language. From this, it concludes that the "self-evident nature of consciousness" is not a scientifically valid statement. This philosophical assumption rests on a category mistake in scientific language use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]