The Third Reviewer

Most motor tasks require the simultaneous coordination of multiple muscles. That coordination is poorly understood in part because there is no noninvasive means of isolating a single muscle’s contribution to the resultant endpoint force. The contribut… . . . → Read More: Extraction of Individual Muscle Mechanical Action From Endpoint Force

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Christou, E., . . . → Read More: Identification of Oscillations in Muscle Activity From Surface EMG: Reply to Halliday and Farmer

Although human cognition often occurs during dynamic motor actions, most studies of human brain dynamics examine subjects in static seated or prone conditions. EEG signals have historically been considered to be too noise prone to allow recording of b… . . . → Read More: Removal of Movement Artifact From High-Density EEG Recorded During Walking and Running

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Halliday, D. M., Farmer, . . . → Read More: On the Need for Rectification of Surface EMG

Purkinje cell dendrites are excitable structures with intrinsic and synaptic conductances contributing to the generation and propagation of electrical activity. Voltage-gated potassium channel subunit Kv3.3 is expressed in the distal dendrites of Purk… . . . → Read More: Dendritic Kv3.3 Potassium Channels in Cerebellar Purkinje Cells Regulate Generation and Spatial Dynamics of Dendritic Ca2+ Spikes

The Kv1.3 voltage-dependent potassium channel is expressed at high levels in mitral cells of the olfactory bulb (OB). Deletion of the Kv1.3 potassium channel gene (Kv1.3–/–) in mice lowers the threshold for detection of odors, increases th… . . . → Read More: The Slack Sodium-Activated Potassium Channel Provides a Major Outward Current in Olfactory Neurons of Kv1.3-/- Super-Smeller Mice

The central pattern generator can generate locomotor-like rhythmic activity in the spinal cord in the absence of descending and peripheral inputs, but the motor pattern is regulated by feedback from peripheral sensory inputs that adjust motor outputs … . . . → Read More: Sensory Modulation of Locomotor-Like Membrane Oscillations in Hb9-Expressing Interneurons

Short-term depression (STD) is observed at many synapses of the CNS and is important for diverse computations. We have discovered a form of fast STD (FSTD) in the synaptic responses of pyramidal cells evoked by stimulation of their electrosensory affe… . . . → Read More: Kinetics of Fast Short-Term Depression Are Matched to Spike Train Statistics to Reduce Noise

Exposure to an enriched environment can improve cognitive functioning in normal animals as well as in animal models of neurological disease and impairment. However, the physiological processes that mediate these changes are poorly understood. Previous… . . . → Read More: Altered Plasticity in Hippocampal CA1, But Not Dentate Gyrus, Following Long-Term Environmental Enrichment

Accumulating evidence points to a map of visual regions encoding specific categories of objects. For example, a region in the human extrastriate visual cortex, the extrastriate body area (EBA), has been implicated in the visual processing of bodies an… . . . → Read More: Dissociable Neural Responses to Hands and Non-Hand Body Parts in Human Left Extrastriate Visual Cortex

The human neocerebellum has been hypothesized to contribute to many high-level cognitive processes including attention, language, and working memory. Support for these nonmotor hypotheses comes from evidence demonstrating structural and functional con… . . . → Read More: Evidence of a Novel Somatopic Map in the Human Neocerebellum During Complex Actions

Touch is initiated by diverse somatosensory afferents that innervate the skin. The ability to manipulate and classify receptor subtypes is prerequisite for elucidating sensory mechanisms. Merkel cell–neurite complexes, which distinguish shapes a… . . . → Read More: The Regularity of Sustained Firing Reveals Two Populations of Slowly Adapting Touch Receptors in Mouse Hairy Skin

Repeating object images produces stimulus-specific repetition suppression referred to as functional magnetic resonance imaging-adaptation (fMRI-A) in ventral temporal cortex (VTC). However, the effects of stimulus repetition on functional selectivity … . . . → Read More: fMRI-Adaptation and Category Selectivity in Human Ventral Temporal Cortex: Regional Differences Across Time Scales

The goal of this study was to characterize the dynamics and functional connectivity of brain networks associated with fast (short-term) learning of handwriting using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants (n = 12) performed a graphomotor … . . . → Read More: Neural Substrates of Graphomotor Sequence Learning: A Combined fMRI and Kinematic Study

The rodent brain is organized into functional networks that can be studied through examination of synchronized low-frequency spontaneous fluctuations (LFFs) of the functional magnetic resonance imaging -blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal. In t… . . . → Read More: Functional Networks in the Anesthetized Rat Brain Revealed by Independent Component Analysis of Resting-State fMRI

In the mammalian spinal cord, Renshaw cells (RCs) are excited by axon collaterals of motoneurons (MNs), and in turn, provide recurrent inhibition of MNs. They are considered an important element in controlling the motor output. However, how RCs are mo… . . . → Read More: Inhibitory Synaptic Modulation of Renshaw Cell Activity in the Lumbar Spinal Cord of Neonatal Mice

CA1 inhibitory interneurons at the stratum lacunosum-moleculare and radiatum junction (LM/RAD-INs) display subthreshold membrane potential oscillations (MPOs) involving voltage-dependent Na+ and A-type K+ currents. LM/RAD-INs also express other voltag… . . . → Read More: Characterization of Voltage-Gated K+ Currents Contributing to Subthreshold Membrane Potential Oscillations in Hippocampal CA1 Interneurons

Representing the orientation of features in the visual image is a fundamental operation of the early cortical visual system. The nature of such representations can be informed by considering anisotropic distributions of response across the range of or… . . . → Read More: Orientation Anisotropies in Human Visual Cortex

The glomerular layer of the mammalian olfactory bulb (OB) forms odorant receptor (OR) maps. Each OR map is structurally and functionally compartmentalized into zones (dorsal and ventral) and domains (DI and DII in the dorsal zone). We previously repor… . . . → Read More: Spatial Arrangement of Glomerular Molecular-Feature Clusters in the Odorant-Receptor Class Domains of the Mouse Olfactory Bulb

The circadian pacemaker within the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) confers daily rhythms to bodily functions. In nature, the circadian clock will adopt a 24-h period by synchronizing to the solar light/dark cycle. This light entrainment process is media… . . . → Read More: Stoichiometry of N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptors Within the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus

Many rhythmic behaviors, such as locomotion and vocalization, involve temporally dynamic patterns. How does the brain generate temporal complexity? Here, we use the vocal central pattern generator (CPG) of Xenopus laevis to address this question. Isol… . . . → Read More: NMDAR-Dependent Control of Call Duration in Xenopus laevis

The transformation of spatial (SF) and temporal frequency (TF) tuning functions from broad-band/low-pass to narrow band-pass profiles is one of the key emergent properties of neurons in the mammalian primary visual cortex (V1). The mechanisms underlyi… . . . → Read More: Spatiotemporal Frequency Tuning Dynamics of Neurons in the Owl Visual Wulst

A successful outcome of epilepsy neurosurgery relies on an accurate delineation of the epileptogenic region to be resected. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) would allow doing this noninvasively at high spatial resolution. However, a clear,… . . . → Read More: Investigation of Linear Coupling Between Single-Event Blood Flow Responses and Interictal Discharges in a Model of Experimental Epilepsy

Although the cingulate cortex is frequently activated in acute human pain studies, postsynaptic responses are not known nor are links between nociceptive afferents, neuronal responses, and outputs to other structures. Intracellular potentials were rec… . . . → Read More: Nociceptive Processing by Anterior Cingulate Pyramidal Neurons

Responses of vestibular-only translation sensitive (VOTS) neurons in vestibular nuclei of two squirrel monkeys were studied at multiple frequencies to three-dimensional translations and rotations. A novel frequency-dependent spatiotemporal analysis ex… . . . → Read More: Frequency-Dependent Spatiotemporal Tuning Properties of Non-Eye Movement Related Vestibular Neurons to Three-Dimensional Translations in Squirrel Monkeys

We investigated to which extent the discrimination of tactile patterns and vibrotactile frequencies share common cortical areas. An adaptation paradigm has been used to identify cortical areas specific for processing particular features of tactile sti… . . . → Read More: Comparing Tactile Pattern and Vibrotactile Frequency Discrimination: A Human fMRI Study

Neurons in the primate extrastriate cortex are highly selective for complex stimulus features such as faces, objects, and motion patterns. One explanation for this selectivity is that neurons in these areas carry out sophisticated computations on the … . . . → Read More: The Role of V1 Surround Suppression in MT Motion Integration

Dopamine (DA) neurons and GABA neurons of the substantia nigra (SN) promote distinct functions in the control of movement and have different firing properties and action potential (AP) waveforms. APs recorded from DA and GABA neurons differed in ampli… . . . → Read More: Differences in Na+ Conductance Density and Na+ Channel Functional Properties Between Dopamine and GABA Neurons of the Rat Substantia Nigra

To make efficient use of their limited signaling capacity, sensory systems often use predictive coding. Predictive coding works by exploiting the statistical regularities of the environment—specifically, by filtering the sensory input to remove … . . . → Read More: Heterogeneous Response Dynamics in Retinal Ganglion Cells: The Interplay of Predictive Coding and Adaptation

The saccadic system is a prime example of motor control without continuous visual feedback. These systems suffer from a strong vulnerability against disturbances. The mechanism of saccadic adaptation allows adjustment of saccades to alterations arisin… . . . → Read More: The Influence of the Consistency of Postsaccadic Visual Errors on Saccadic Adaptation

Feedback control of our limbs must account for the unexpected offset of mechanical perturbations. Here we examine the evoked activity of elbow flexor and extensor muscles to torque pulses lasting 22–152 ms and how torque offset impacts activity … . . . → Read More: Long-Latency and Voluntary Responses to an Arm Displacement Can Be Rapidly Attenuated By Perturbation Offset

The most favored model of humidity transduction views the cuticular wall of insect hygroreceptive sensilla as a hygromechanical transducer. Hygroscopic swelling or shrinking alters the geometry of the wall, deforming the dendritic membranes of the moi… . . . → Read More: Insect Hygroreceptor Responses to Continuous Changes in Humidity and Air Pressure

The discovery of grid cells in the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) permits the characterization of hippocampal computation in much greater detail than previously possible. The present study addresses how an integrate-and-fire unit driven by grid-cell s… . . . → Read More: Hebbian Analysis of the Transformation of Medial Entorhinal Grid-Cell Inputs to Hippocampal Place Fields

Many social animals including songbirds use communication vocalizations for individual recognition. The perception of vocalizations depends on the encoding of complex sounds by neurons in the ascending auditory system, each of which is tuned to a part… . . . → Read More: Discrimination of Communication Vocalizations by Single Neurons and Groups of Neurons in the Auditory Midbrain

When reaching for an object, primates usually look at their target before touching it with the hand. This gaze movement prior to the arm movement allows target fixation, which is usually prolonged until the target is reached. In this manner, a stable … . . . → Read More: Role of the Rostral Superior Colliculus in Gaze Anchoring During Reach Movements

Perceptual judgments are often biased by prospective losses, leading to changes in decision criteria. Little is known about how and where sensory evidence and cost information interact in the brain to influence perceptual categorization. Here we show … . . . → Read More: Effects of Category-Specific Costs on Neural Systems for Perceptual Decision-Making

The musculoskeletal redundancy of the body provides multiple solutions for performing motor tasks. We have proposed that the nervous system solves this unconstrained problem through the recruitment of motor modules or functional muscle synergies that … . . . → Read More: Subject-Specific Muscle Synergies in Human Balance Control Are Consistent Across Different Biomechanical Contexts

The rostral nucleus of the solitary tract (rNST) plays a pivotal role in taste processing. The rNST contains projection neurons and interneurons that differ in morphology and intrinsic membrane properties. Although characteristics of the projection ne… . . . → Read More: Properties of GABAergic Neurons in the Rostral Solitary Tract Nucleus in Mice

Cats actively respond to horizontal perturbations of the supporting surface according to the force constraint strategy. In this strategy, the force responses fall into two groups oriented in either rostral and medial directions or caudal and lateral d… . . . → Read More: The Decerebrate Cat Generates the Essential Features of the Force Constraint Strategy

When a new sensorimotor mapping is learned through practice, learning commonly transfers to unpracticed regions of task space, that is, generalization ensues. Does generalization reflect fixed properties of movement representations in the nervous syst… . . . → Read More: Learning Not to Generalize: Modular Adaptation of Visuomotor Gain

It is not known how egocentric visual information (location of a target relative to the self) and allocentric visual information (location of a target relative to external landmarks) are integrated to form reach plans. Based on behavioral data from ro… . . . → Read More: Cue Reliability and a Landmark Stability Heuristic Determine Relative Weighting Between Egocentric and Allocentric Visual Information in Memory-Guided Reach

Planning of object manipulations is dependent on the ability to generate, store, and retrieve sensorimotor memories of previous actions associated with grasped objects. However, the sensorimotor memory representations linking object properties to the … . . . → Read More: Manipulation After Object Rotation Reveals Independent Sensorimotor Memory Representations of Digit Positions and Forces

Dendritic atrophy and impaired long-term synaptic potentiation (LTP) are hallmarks of chronic stress-induced plasticity in the hippocampus. It has been hypothesized that these disparate structural and physiological correlates of stress lead to hippoca… . . . → Read More: Computational Analysis of the Impact of Chronic Stress on Intrinsic and Synaptic Excitability in the Hippocampus

Our goal is to examine the relationship between neuron- and network-level processing in the context of a well-studied cortical function, the processing of thalamic input by whisker-barrel circuits in rodent neocortex. Here we focus on neuron-level pro… . . . → Read More: Response Sensitivity of Barrel Neuron Subpopulations to Simulated Thalamic Input

Discrimination between edible and noxious food, crucial for animal survival, is based on separate gustatory receptors for phagostimulants and deterrents. In the moth Heliothis virescens, gustatory receptor neurons (GRNs) tuned to phagostimulants like… . . . → Read More: Central Gustatory Neurons Integrate Taste Quality Information From Four Appendages in the Moth Heliothis virescens

Our previous studies show that a decrease in endogenous nitric oxide (NO) is involved in the blunted outward K+ currents in carotid body (CB) glomus cells from chronic heart failure (CHF) rabbits. In the present study, we measured the effects of the n… . . . → Read More: Expression of Neuronal Nitric Oxide Synthase in Rabbit Carotid Body Glomus Cells Regulates Large-Conductance Ca2+-Activated Potassium Currents

We studied the effects of fatigue of the index finger on indices of force variability in discrete and rhythmic accurate force production tasks performed by the index finger and by all four fingers pressing in parallel. An increase in the variance of t… . . . → Read More: Fatigue and Motor Redundancy: Adaptive Increase in Finger Force Variance in Multi-Finger Tasks

Efficient grasping requires planned and accurate coordination of finger movements to approximate the shape of an object before contact. In healthy subjects, hand shaping is known to occur early in reach under predominantly feedforward control. In pati… . . . → Read More: Compensatory Motor Control After Stroke: An Alternative Joint Strategy for Object-Dependent Shaping of Hand Posture

Adult neurogenesis has captivated neuroscientists for decades, with hopes that understanding the programs underlying this phenomenon may provide unique insight toward avenues for brain repair. Interestingly, however, despite intense molecular and cell… . . . → Read More: Adult Neurogenesis Supports Short-Term Olfactory Memory

Central pain syndrome (CPS) is a debilitating condition that affects a large number of patients with a primary lesion or dysfunction in the CNS, most commonly due to spinal cord injury, stroke, and multiple sclerosis lesions. The pathophysiological pr… . . . → Read More: Abnormal Anterior Pretectal Nucleus Activity Contributes to Central Pain Syndrome

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a technique used to study perceptual, motor, and cognitive functions in the human brain. Its effects have been likened to a “virtual brain lesion,” but a direct test of this assumption is lacking. To verify t… . . . → Read More: The Neural Mechanisms of the Effects of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Perception

Proximal and distal muscles are different in size, maximum force, mechanical action, and neuromuscular control. In the current study we explore the perception of delayed stiffness when probing is executed using movement of different joints. We found a… . . . → Read More: Proximodistal Gradient in the Perception of Delayed Stiffness