Perception — also known as awareness through our senses — has historically been viewed as a static process. We see, hear, smell, and otherwise "read" our surroundings, then process them as sensory inputs. Neuroscientists are discovering, however, that it is not that simple.

The proposal submission period is now closed. Submitters will be contacted regarding acceptance in the spring.

There’s a reason you get lost in a good book: stories activate the brain’s hard-wired social processing.

In the blowfly, the direction-selective response of the 60 lobula-plate tangential cells has been ascribed to the integration of local motion information across their extensive dendritic trees. Because the lobula plate is organized retinotopically, the receptive fields of the tangential cells ought to be determined by their dendritic architecture. However, this appears not always to be the case. One compelling example is the exceptionally wide receptive fields of the vertical system (VS) tangential cells. Using dual-intracellular recordings, Haag and Borst ([2004][1]) found VS cells to be mutually coupled in such a way that each VS cell is connected exclusively to its immediate neighbors. This coupling may form the basis of the broad receptive fields of VS cells. Here, we tested this hypothesis directly by photoablating individual VS cells. The receptive field width of VS cells indeed narrowed after the ablation of single VS cells, specifically depending on whether the receptive field of the ablated cell w...

Game theorists often quote the story of Sherlock Holmes fleeing London by train in direction of Dover, and applying the following recursive reasoning: if he were to continue the journey without giving thought to his pursuers (order-one strategy), then surely Moriarty would find out and follow him to

Thank you for attending Neuroscience 2022.

Mark Your Calendars for Neuroscience 2022 Advocacy Events Neuroscience 2022 in San Diego is quickly approaching, and there is an exciting lineup of advocacy events to attend! Visit the ECPA poster session, where past and current ECPAs will be presenting on their policy and advocacy work, onSaturday, November 12 from 6:30–8:30 p.m. PSTin the San Diego Convention Center (SDCC) Poster Hall. The Animals in Research Panel will be held onMonday, November 14 from 1:30–3:30 p.m. PSTin the SDCC Room 11. Panelists will discuss the benefits and limitations of alternatives to animals in research and why neuroscience still needs animal models. Attend the Advocacy Forum onTuesday, November 15 from 2–3:30 p.m. PST, also in the SDCC Room 11, where panelists will explain how to successfully leverage the use of data and emotion to influence the decision-making process and have productive and impactful advocacy discussions. Please email the SfN Advocacy Team with any questions. ECPA Program Applications Open November 29 Appl...

Join exhibitors for a 30-minute presentation about their products, services, and research. The Product Theater is located in the Exhibit Hall.

Autonomic imbalance — particularly reduced activity from brainstem parasympathetic cardiac vagal neurons (CVNs)—is a major characteristic of many cardiorespiratory diseases. Therapeutic approaches to selectively enhance CVN activity have been limited by the lack of defined, translationally relevant targets. Previous studies have identified an important excitatory synaptic pathway from oxytocin (OXT) neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) to brainstem CVNs, suggesting that OXT could provide a key selective excitation of CVNs. In clinical studies, intranasal OXT has been shown to increases parasympathetic cardiac activity, improve autonomic balance, and reduce obstructive event durations and oxygen desaturations in obstructive sleep apnea patients. However, the mechanisms by which activation of hypothalamic OXT neurons, or intranasal OXT, enhance brainstem parasympathetic cardiac activity remain unclear. CVNs are located in two cholinergic brainstem nuclei: the nucleus ambiguus (NA)...

Entrepreneur describes his rationale for supporting the new prize.