Each time we make an eye movement, attention moves before the eyes, resulting in a perceptual enhancement at the target. Recent psychophysical studies suggest that this pre-saccadic attention enhances the visual features at the saccade target, whereas…
Memory formation requires coordinated control of gene expression, protein synthesis, and ubiquitin–proteasome system (UPS)-mediated protein degradation. The catalytic component of the UPS, the 26S proteasome, contains a 20S catalytic core surrou…
Low-level features are typically continuous (e.g., the gamut between two colors), but semantic information is often categorical (there is no corresponding gradient between dog and turtle) and hierarchical (animals live in land, water, or air). To dete…
Body movements influence brain-wide neuronal activities. In the sensory cortex, thalamocortical bottom-up inputs and motor-sensory top-down inputs are thought to affect the dynamics of membrane potentials (Vm) of neurons and change their processing of…
Outer hair cells (OHCs) of the organ of Corti (OoC), acting as bidirectional cellular mechanoelectrical transducers, generate, receive, and exchange forces with other major elements of the cochlear partition, including the sensory inner hair cells (IH…
Increasing age is associated with age-related neural dedifferentiation, a reduction in the selectivity of neural representations, which has been proposed to contribute to cognitive decline in older age. Recent findings indicate that when operationaliz…
The insular cortex (IC) integrates sensory and interoceptive cues to inform downstream circuitry executing adaptive behavioral responses. The IC communicates with areas involved canonically in stress and motivation. IC projections govern stress and et…
What happens once a cortical territory becomes functionally redundant? We studied changes in brain function and behavior for the remaining hand in humans (male and female) with either a missing hand from birth (one-handers) or due to amputation. Previ…
The dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) is an important nucleus in pain regulation. However, the underlying neural pathway and the function of specific cell types remain unclear. Here, we report a previously unrecognized ascending facilitation pathway, the DRN…
N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) are crucial for neuronal development and synaptic plasticity. Dysfunction of NMDARs is associated with multiple neurodevelopmental disorders, including epilepsy, autism spectrum disorder, and intellectual disabi…