Cover Illustration: Neuroelectrophysiological activity recorded in the avian auditory cortex of zebra finches in response to conspecific vocalizations that have different meanings. The top row shows the spectrogram of the vocalizations, the middle section the spike rasters obtained for 10 presentations of that same sound, and the bottom row the Post Stimulus Time Histogram (PSTH) or average spike response in number of spikes per ms. PSTH values ranges between 0 and 100 spikes per ms for the example cell. This cell shows selective response for one category of vocalizations, the Distance call. For details see the article of Elie & Theunissen (Meaning in the avian auditory cortex: neural representation of communication calls. Eur. J. Neurosci., 41, 546–567).

In the retina of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)::GFP mice, GFP-expressing type 2 amacrine cells (TH2) are characterized by short and long radial processes, stratifying in the middle of the inner plexiform layer. Here, we show that electrical, excitatory and inhibitory synapses are uniformly distributed along TH2 cell dendrites. We reveal that TH2 cells provide postsynaptic inhibition to several types of ganglion cells; one of them is the W3 cell, a ganglion cell sensitive to object motion.

The globus pallidus externa (GPe) projects directly to the cortex. Tracing and in vivo electrophysiology experiments reveal a direct projection from GABAergic GPe neurons to the premotor frontal cortex.

Unlike the A10 area of the rat, the mouse A10 area contains a group of TH and VGluT2/TH neurons that do not seem to synthesize dopamine in the adult under normal conditions, as they lack detectable levels of TH protein. By double immunofluorescence, we found mesohabenular fibers expressing mCherry under the TH promoter contain high levels of mCherry signal, but lack detectable levels of TH protein, indicating that the lateral habenula is targeted by TH mRNA(+)/TH protein(−) neurons. In contrast, the A10 innervations to the nucleus accumbens containing mCherry also contained TH-protein.

This study has demonstrated, for the first time, the involvement of DNA methyltransferase enzymes in perirhinal cortex-mediated memory. Furthermore, we reveal a functional double dissociation between the maintenance and de novo DNA methyltransferase families in perirhinal cortex- and hippocampus-mediated object memory, respectively. We hypothesize that these enzymes differentially regulate memory consolidation in these regions for two distinct forms of memory.

The diurnal rise in intra-hippocampal corticosterone (CORT) levels in wildtype mice increased with ageing but was greatly diminished in 11β-HSD1^−/− mice. A short swim stress induced a greater rise in intra-hippocampal CORT levels in wildtype than 11β-HSD1^−/− mice; effects were more pronounced with ageing. These data indicate that 11β-HSD1 activity contributes substantially to diurnal and stress-induced increases in hippocampal CORT levels.

Secretions from conspecifics modulate the novel environment (NE) induced activity of CRH-producing neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the mouse hypothalamus. This stress-reducing effect can also be elicited by identified chemical compounds that are detected by a special subfamily of odorant receptors (OR37) in the main olfactory epithelium. These data indicate that the OR37 system may play a role in mediating a phenomenon called social buffering.

The main goal of this study was to investigate the role of sucrose-related cues and response contingency in the responsiveness of NAc shell and core DA transmission. Learning of responding for sucrose involves build-up of activation of shell and suppression of core dopamine responsiveness. This apparent loss of habituation of shell dopamine under response contingent sucrose feeding might involve a shift from primary to conditioned stimuli as determinants of accumbens shell dopamine activation.

Vestibular signaling and its multisensory integration are crucial for the sense of a bodily self. Here we showed that moving on a motion platform congruently with a mannequin seen from a first person perspective cools down skin temperature. This suggests that conflicting visuo-vestibular input alters thermoregulation as an implicit measure of body ownership.

This work examined the influence of level of interest in anticipated stimuli on established ERP indices of spatial attention in adolescents. Results showed significantly greater accuracy in target detection for high versus low interest stimuli, as well as enhanced amplitude in parieto-occipital processes related to anticipatory spatial attention. This provides a foundation for future work with developmentally disabled populations using level of interest in stimuli as incentive to potentially regulate atypical attentional processes.

The default-mode network is known to be deactivated when a goal-directed task is being performed. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we observed an anticorrelation between the frontostriatal pathway and the regions associated with the default-mode network while performing a set-shifting task. More importantly, a significant increase of activity of the default-mode network was observed as the number of trials executing the same rule increased suggesting a specific contribution of the default-mode network with the level of familiarity of a goal-directed task.

Posterior parietal tDCS induces polarity-dependent M1 excitability changes. Anodal stimulation enhances M1 cortico-spinal excitability, and increases M1 intracortical facilitation and parieto-motor cortical excitability, whereas cathodal tDCS reduces M1 cortico-spinal excitability and the parieto-motor cortical excitability. The cortico-spinal excitability changes remain at least 120 min after stimulation. The results suggest a relevant connectivity-driven neuroplastic effect of posterior parietal tDCS on M1 excitability.

We recorded single unit activity (SUA) and local field potentials (LFPs) simultaneously from the Superior Colliculus (SC) of behaving non-human primates. We found that signal properties of SUA (A&B) were well preserved in the LFPs (C&D) spatially (Ordinate) and temporally (Abscissa). On the other hand, LFPs showed significant reversal of activity following the initial phasic visual response, which cannot be observed in SUA, suggesting suppression in the SC.