Tag: Neuroanatomy and Structure

A New Insight into the Role of CART Peptide in Serotonergic Function and Anxiety

Cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) peptide has been implicated in stress-related behaviors that are regulated by central serotonergic (5-HT) systems in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN). Here, we aimed to investigate the interaction between CART and DRN 5-HTergic systems after initially observing CART axonal terminals in the DRN. We found that microinfusion of CART peptide… Continue reading A New Insight into the Role of CART Peptide in Serotonergic Function and Anxiety

Targeting Tiam1 Enhances Hippocampal-Dependent Learning and Memory in the Adult Brain and Promotes NMDA Receptor-Mediated Synaptic Plasticity and Function

Excitatory synapses and the actin-rich dendritic spines on which they reside are indispensable for information processing and storage in the brain. In the adult hippocampus, excitatory synapses must balance plasticity and stability to support learning and memory. However, the mechanisms governing this balance remain poorly understood. Tiam1 is an actin cytoskeleton regulator prominently expressed in… Continue reading Targeting Tiam1 Enhances Hippocampal-Dependent Learning and Memory in the Adult Brain and Promotes NMDA Receptor-Mediated Synaptic Plasticity and Function

The Dimensionality of Neural Coding for Cognitive Control Is Gradually Transformed within the Lateral Prefrontal Cortex

Cognitive control relies on neural representations that are inherently high-dimensional and distributed across multiple subregions in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Traditional approaches tackle prefrontal representation by reducing it into a unidimensional measure (univariate amplitude) or using it to distinguish a limited number of alternatives (pattern classification). In contrast, representational similarity analysis (RSA) enables flexibly formulating… Continue reading The Dimensionality of Neural Coding for Cognitive Control Is Gradually Transformed within the Lateral Prefrontal Cortex

Lesions to Different Regions of the Frontal Cortex Have Dissociable Effects on Voluntary Persistence in Humans

Deciding how long to keep waiting for uncertain future rewards is a complex problem. Previous research has shown that choosing to stop waiting results from an evaluative process that weighs the subjective value of the awaited reward against the opportunity cost of waiting. Activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) tracks the dynamics of this… Continue reading Lesions to Different Regions of the Frontal Cortex Have Dissociable Effects on Voluntary Persistence in Humans

Evelina Fedorenko receives Troland Award from National Academy of Sciences

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) recently announced that MIT Associate Professor Evelina Fedorenko will receive a 2025 Troland Research Award for her groundbreaking contributions toward understanding the language network in the human brain. The Troland Research Award is given annually to recognize unusual achievement by early-career researchers within the broad spectrum of experimental psychology.… Continue reading Evelina Fedorenko receives Troland Award from National Academy of Sciences

Individual Variability in the Structural Connectivity Architecture of the Human Brain

The human brain exhibits a high degree of individual variability in both its structure and function, which underlies intersubject differences in cognition and behavior. It was previously shown that functional connectivity is more variable in the heteromodal association cortex but less variable in the unimodal cortices. Structural connectivity (SC) is the anatomical substrate of functional… Continue reading Individual Variability in the Structural Connectivity Architecture of the Human Brain

Diverse Frontoparietal Connectivity Supports Semantic Prediction and Integration in Sentence Comprehension

Predictive processing in the parietal, temporal, frontal, and sensory cortex allows us to anticipate future meanings to maximize the efficiency of language comprehension, with the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) thought to be situated toward the top of a predictive hierarchy. Although the regions underpinning this fundamental brain function are well-documented, it… Continue reading Diverse Frontoparietal Connectivity Supports Semantic Prediction and Integration in Sentence Comprehension

Social Risk Coding by Amygdala Activity and Connectivity with the Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex

Risk is a fundamental factor affecting individual and social economic decisions, but its neural correlates are largely unexplored in the social domain. The amygdala, together with the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), is thought to play a central role in risk-taking. Here, we investigated in human volunteers (n = 20; 11 females) how risk (defined… Continue reading Social Risk Coding by Amygdala Activity and Connectivity with the Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex

Circuit Reorganization of Subicular Cell-Type-Specific Interneurons in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

The subiculum represents a crucial brain pivot in regulating seizure generalization in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), primarily through a synergy of local GABAergic and long-projecting glutamatergic signaling. However, little is known about how subicular GABAergic interneurons are involved in a cell-type–specific way. Here, employing Ca2+ fiber photometry, retrograde monosynaptic viral tracing, and chemogenetics in epilepsy… Continue reading Circuit Reorganization of Subicular Cell-Type-Specific Interneurons in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy