Pain and emotion are strongly regulated by neurons in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA), a major output of the limbic system; yet, the neuronal signaling pathways underlying this modulation are incompletely understood. Here, we characterized a…
Motor skills learning is classically associated with brain regions including cerebral and cerebellar cortices and basal ganglia nuclei. Less is known about the role of the hippocampus in the acquisition and storage of motor skills. Here, we show that …
Relational memory, the ability to make and remember associations between objects, is an essential component of mammalian reasoning. In relational memory tasks, it has been shown that periods of offline processing, such as sleep, are critical to making…
The imbalanced conditions of pronociceptive ON-cells and antinociceptive OFF-cells in the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) alter nociceptive transmission and play an important role in the development of chronic pain. This study aimed to explore the …
The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway plays a major role in key cellular processes including metabolism and differentiation; however, the role of mTOR in microglia and its importance in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have remained lar…
Sensory evidence accumulation is considered a hallmark of decision-making in noisy environments. Integration of sensory inputs has been traditionally studied using passive stimuli, segregating perception from action. Lessons learned from this approach…
Neuropathic pain is a major, inadequately treated challenge for people with spinal cord injury (SCI). While SCI pain mechanisms are often assumed to be in the CNS, rodent studies have revealed mechanistic contributions from primary nociceptors. These …
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that is characterized by difficulties with social interaction and interpersonal communication. It has been argued that abnormal attentional function to exogenous stimuli precedes and contribut…
Hippocampal place cells form a map of the environment of an animal. Changes in the hippocampal map can be brought about in a number of ways, including changes to the environment, task, internal state of the subject, and the passage of time. These chan…