The sudden appearance of a visual distractor shortly before saccade initiation can capture spatial attention and modulate the saccade trajectory in spite of the ongoing execution of the initial plan to shift gaze straight to the saccade target. To elu…
The activation of autonomic and hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) systems occurs interdependently with behavioral adjustments under varying environmental demands. Nevertheless, laboratory rodent studies examining the neural bases of stress responses…
Peripheral taste neurons exhibit functional, genetic, and morphological diversity, yet understanding how or if these attributes combine into taste neuron types remains unclear. In this study, we used male and female mice to relate taste bud innervatio…
The prefrontal cortex is critical for decision-making across species, with its activity linked to choosing between options. Drift diffusion models (DDMs) are commonly employed to understand the neural computations underlying this behavior. Studies exp…
The extent to which neural representations of fear experience depend on or generalize across the situational context has remained unclear. We systematically manipulated variation within and across three distinct fear-evocative situations including fea…
Basolateral amygdala (BLA) neurons are engaged by emotionally salient stimuli. An area of increasing interest is how BLA dynamics relate to evolving reward-seeking behavior, especially under situations of uncertainty or ambiguity. Here, we recorded th…
Goal-directed visual attention is a fundamental cognitive process that enables animals to selectively focus on specific regions of the visual field while filtering out irrelevant information. However, given the domain specificity of social behaviors, …
A unique population of ventral tegmental area (VTA) neurons co-transmits glutamate and GABA. However, the circuit inputs to VTA VGluT2+VGaT+ neurons are unknown, limiting our understanding of their functional capabilities. By coupling monosynaptic rab…
Endogenous reprogramming of glia into neurogenic progenitors holds great promise for neuron restoration therapies. Using lessons from regenerative species, we have developed strategies to stimulate mammalian Müller glia to regenerate neurons i…