A novel analysis of neural activity recorded in monkeys performing a “brain-machine interface” task reveals that a mismatch between motor effectors and the brains’ internal models of those effectors can explain a substantial portion of movement errors.
Evidence of an interaction between expected reward size and visual cortical microstimulation indicates that expected reward can affect sensory representations.
Neurons in the amygdala, a brain system usually associated with emotion, track progress during sequential reward-directed choices according to an internal plan in Rhesus macaques.
To establish a trade-off between the speed and accuracy of a decision, neurons in lateral intraparietal cortex combine evidence bearing on the decision with a signal that incorporates the cost of time into the decision-making process.
Recent advances in technology now make it possible to carry out biomedical research on animals living in the wild, or captive animals living in naturalistic conditions.
Models and experiments reveal that human L2/3 pyramidal neurons have distinctively low specific membrane capacitance which might have a significant impact on signal processing in human neocortex.
The reconstitution of a functional envelope protein from an extinct hominid retrovirus reveals its receptor and an ancient host defense that may have led to the extinction of the virus.