Researchers have mapped the first migratory bird brain using high-resolution light microscopy and open-source software tools, creating a valuable resource for neuroscience worldwide. The new Eurasian blackcap atlas enables consistency in brain data interpretation and fosters collaboration among researchers.
Researchers identified a dual learning system in the brain that enables habits to form and provides a scientific basis for breaking bad habits. The study suggests that replacing an action consistently can lead to the APE system forming a new habit, offering a potential strategy for overcoming addictions.
Researchers have identified three cell types in the median raphe nucleus that control decisions on perseverance, exploration, and disengagement. These findings may help understand neuropsychiatric conditions such as OCD, autism, and major depressive disorder.
Researchers at Sainsbury Wellcome Centre develop novel experimental setup called Translocator, isolating fundamental elements of locomotion and motion-source separation. The team finds that individual cells in primary visual cortex use motor and vestibular signals to determine visual flow origin.
Researchers mapped the precise brain mechanisms that enable animals to overcome instinctive fears, revealing two key components in this learning process. The study found that a brain structure called the ventrolateral geniculate nucleus (vLGN) stores learning-induced memories and is triggered by the release of endocannabinoids.
Researchers discovered brain cells that map an animal's position in behavioural coordinates, helping understand how the brain generates complex behaviors. The findings may be useful in understanding psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia.
Researchers have found two distinct maps in the brain's secondary motor cortex that enable spatial planning and navigation, with implications for understanding neurological conditions such as stroke. The study discovered a self-centred map used for planning actions and a world-centred map used to determine body position in the world.
Neuroscientists have discovered a global process across the brain that coordinates sensory input with motor action through learning. In trained mice, neurons link sensory evidence to action initiation, integrating information across multiple brain regions.
Researchers have found a new brain mechanism that detects prediction errors between expected and actual sensory inputs, boosting responses to unexpected information. This discovery could offer insights into the neural circuits underlying autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs).
Neuroscientists have identified a region of the brain that regulates escape behavior in mice, revealing its role in anxiety and PTSD. The study found that inhibitory neurons can be turned up or down to control sensitivity to threats.
Researchers have developed a network model that replicates the experimental findings of how short-term history effects lead to central tendency bias in working memory. The model shows that neural circuits can give rise to both recency and central tendency biases at the same time through a single mechanism.
Researchers at Sainsbury Wellcome Centre find frontal and parietal cortex play key role in encoding value of economic choices when faced with uncertainty. The study provides foundation for understanding neurobiology of risky decisions.
Researchers at Sainsbury Wellcome Centre found that instinctual exploratory runs enable mice to learn a map of the world efficiently. The study demonstrates how biological brains can learn faster and more efficiently than AI agents by focusing on salient objects.
Neuroscientists have uncovered a brain circuit that enables mice to rapidly escape to shelter when faced with a threat. The retrosplenial cortex and superior colliculus form a circuit that encodes the direction to a shelter, allowing mice to accurately orient and escape.
Neuroscientists at Sainsbury Wellcome Centre discovered that individual neurons in the visual cortex of mice are modulated separately by attention and running. The study found that spatial attention and running influence neurons independently, with different dynamics.
Researchers discovered that communication between two brain regions, parietal cortex and premotor cortex, is co-dependent on instantaneous timescales to represent and maintain working memory. This finding challenges previous understanding of working memory representation in the brain.
Researchers discovered that hippocampal place cells represent direction and distance to a goal in addition to current location. A vector field provides signal towards the goal, aiding flexible navigation.
Researchers at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre discovered that brain area communication is dynamic and changes over rapid timespans, with influences varying on a fast timescale. This finding suggests that cortical areas may control different aspects of processing in downstream regions over very short time spans.
Researchers discovered two novel categories of cells in the BLA that respond to ethological stimuli, including event-specific neurons responding to one type of stimulus and panresponsive neurons responding equally well to multiple stimuli. These findings suggest a larger role for the BLA in memory and behavior.
Neuroscientists demonstrate that mice can learn to suppress their innate escape response, effectively ignoring stimuli deemed non-threatening. The study's findings show that this suppression is specific to the stimulus and dependent on recent threat-escape history.
Researchers at Sainsbury Wellcome Centre found that mice can choose the best escape route after only 10 minutes of exploration, without needing to experience threat. The study suggests that mice use innate heuristics and natural exploration to learn this information.
Researchers identified brain cells called angular head velocity (AHV) cells that track head motion speed, which improves estimation of own head angular speed when visual cues are available. This study sheds light on the neural mechanisms underlying navigation and self-motion guidance in the brain.
Researchers at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre have discovered a new brain circuit that enables mice to override their instincts based on previous experience. The ventral lateral geniculate nucleus (vLGN) inhibits threat reactions when animals feel safe, but activates them when danger is perceived.
Researchers used a brain machine interface to enable mice to guide a cursor using only their brain activity. The study found that visual cortical areas in the mouse brain were involved during the task, including the parietal cortex, which may act as a way station between sensory and motor areas.
Zebrafish studies reveal that isolation causes sensitivity to stimuli and increased brain activity related to stress and anxiety. The results suggest that social isolation can result in a decreased desire for social interaction, contradicting the assumption that loners are simply anti-social.
A team of scientists developed an innovative method to study eye movements in mice, revealing two types of eye movement coupled to head movement: 'head tilt compensation' and 'saccade and fixate'. These findings validate using mice to study human brain disorders, including schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, and stroke.
Researchers at Sainsbury Wellcome Centre found that male mice recognize pups through a mixture of pheromones and multisensory cues, but distinct signals trigger infanticide and parental behavior. This discovery advances our understanding of social cue recognition in animals.
A study published in Neuron demonstrates that neurons with the same projection target are more likely to connect with each other, despite being neighbors. This 'exclusion' principle of connectivity highlights a new rule of connectivity in the neocortex.
Researchers developed a computational model that found serotonin boosts learning rates in mice, particularly in slow decision-making systems. The study suggests a possible link between serotonin and cognitive behavioral therapy, which is often effective when combined with SSRIs.
Researchers have discovered a subcellular mechanism by which the brain classifies threat levels and decides when to escape, involving connections between two brain regions. The 'threshold computation' process is weak and unreliable, but becomes sufficient when threat levels rise, enabling animals to make instinctive decisions.
Researchers used a novel barcode-based tracing method to map the projection patterns of individual neurons in the visual cortex. The study found that most primary visual cortex neurons distribute information to multiple downstream areas, rather than projecting to a single target.
Researchers found a brain circuit in the primary visual cortex that combines head and visual movement signals, enabling appropriate behavioral responses. This circuit involves the retrosplenial cortex, which encodes spatial navigation information.
A new study explores how our cognitive maps adapt to changing environments and reveals distinct connections between grid cells, place cells, and border cells. Researchers found that grid cells closer to the changing walls shift more than those further away, suggesting a non-homogeneous rescaling of the spatial metric.
A new Honeycomb Maze design offers a significant improvement over current spatial navigation tests, allowing for systematic analysis of animal decisions. The novel test replicates the advantages of the Morris Water Maze while providing a simple measure of success, demonstrating consistency and reproducibility in control animals.