The 2025 Election for SfN officers and councilors is now closed. The 2026 Call for Nominations will open in November. If you have any questions, please contact SfN at governance@sfn.org.

The 2025 Election for SfN officers and councilors is now closed. The 2026 Call for Nominations will open in November. If you have any questions, please contact SfN at governance@sfn.org.

Whether it is to our peers, policymakers, or the public, members must continue to share the value and excitement of neuroscience to build support for our research.

The electrophysiological response to rewards recorded during laboratory tasks has been well documented, yet little is known about the neural response patterns in a more naturalistic setting. Here, we combined a mobile-EEG system with an augmented reality headset to record event-related brain potentials (ERPs) while participants engaged in a naturalistic operant task to find rewards. Twenty-five participants were asked to navigate toward a west or east goal location marked by floating orbs, and once participants reached the goal location, the orb would then signify a reward (5 cents) or no-reward (0 cents) outcome. Following the outcome, participants returned to a start location marked by floating purple rings, and once standing in the middle, a 3 s counter signaled the next trial, for a total of 200 trials. Consistent with previous research, reward feedback evoked the reward positivity, an ERP component believed to index the sensitivity of the anterior cingulate cortex to reward prediction error signals. T...

While the reduced auditory P3 event-related potential (ERP) evoked by the auditory oddball task is a highly sensitive marker for schizophrenia, it is relatively non-specific, and its neural basis is uncertain. In addition, most previous studies have examined few first-episode patients (FEP), reducing statistical power for the detection of changes in neural activity with progression of this illness. In order to increase the specificity and sensitivity of this measure for illness progression, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, which offers improved anatomic specificity over ERPs, was obtained using the novelty oddball task at 4 institutions and combined for analysis. FMRI data was first obtained from 10 healthy subjects in 2 sessions at each of 4 MIND Consortium sites, using 3 Tesla (Siemens Trios at UMN, U Iowa and MGH) and 1.5 Tesla systems (GE at U Iowa and Siemens at UNM). Whole-brain, gradient-echo, echo planar imaging data (TR= 2 sec) was acquired in response to standard (10% of stimuli...

Week of Oct. 1, 2018: Read the Latest Advocacy and Science News

Virtual conference speakers will explore the frontier of optogenetics tools and applications. Learn more about the speakers and register today.

The development of Schwann cells, which myelinate axons in the peripheral nervous system, is critically dependent on MEK/ERK signaling. While Ets-domain transcription factors ( Etv1 , Etv4 , Etv5 ) are downstream effectors of this pathway, only Etv1 has been specifically linked to Schwann cell development. Here, we examined the functions of Etv5 , which is expressed in Schwann cell precursors, neural crest cells and satellite glia, at embryonic stages and at low levels in mature Schwann cells. In hypomorphic Etv5tm1Kmm homozygous mutant mice, no overt defects in Schwann cell differentiation were observed at embryonic stages. To study the function of Etv5 in juvenile (postnatal days 21–30) and mature adult (6 month) mice, we generated Etv5 conditional knock-outs (cKOs) using a Sox10-Cre driver. In juvenile male Etv5 -cKO mice, Schwann cell numbers increased normally after a peripheral nerve crush injury, a response that was attenuated by 6 months. Transmission electron microscopy of the naive sciatic nerve ...

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a bacterial endotoxin that induces innate immune responses. The present study aimed to elucidate alterations in cerebral cortical surface morphology induced by neonatal exposure to LPS using gyrencephalic ferrets. Male ferret pups received a subcutaneous injection of LPS (500 µg/g of body weight) on Postnatal Day (P)6 and P7. Furthermore, EdU and BrdU were administered on P5 and P7, respectively, to label postproliferative and proliferating cells that were exposed to LPS in the late stage of cortical neurogenesis. On P20 when the primary sulci and gyri had formed, MRI-based morphometry revealed an anterior shift in sulcal infolding in the medial and dorsolateral cortices of LPS-exposed ferrets. Immunofluorescence analysis showed that LPS increased the density of BrdU-labeled cells and reduced their apoptosis, as indicated by cleaved caspase-3 (cCasp3) immunostaining, in the outer stratum of the lateral sulcus located on the parietal association cortex. Furthermore, cCasp3 immuno...

The development of motor control over sensory organs is a critical milestone, enabling active exploration and shaping of the sensory environment. Whether the onset of sensory organ motor control directly influences the development of corresponding sensory cortices remains unknown. Here, we confirm and exploit the late onset of whisking behavior in mice to address this question in the somatosensory system. Using ex vivo electrophysiology, we describe a transient increase in the intrinsic excitability of excitatory neurons in layer IV of the barrel cortex, which processes whisker input, immediately following the onset of active whisking on postnatal days 13 and 14. This increase in neuronal gain is specific to layer IV, independent of changes in synaptic strength, and requires prior sensory experience. Further, these effects are not expressed in inhibitory interneurons in barrel cortex. The transient increase in excitability is not evident in layer II/III of barrel cortex or in the visual cortex upon eye ope...