Journal of Neurophysiology

Medium spiny neurons and pair bonding in the prairie vole

Does an individual's preference for monogamy have some connection to the electrophysiological properties of medium spiny neurons (MSNs) in the nucleus accumbens? In this podcast, Editor-in-Chief Bill Yates talks with Jaime Willett (North Carolina State University) and Dr. Andrea Vogel (Cornell University) about their recent study which explored this question in the prairie vole, one of the few animal models which demonstrate pair bonding. Their article was also chosen for March's APSselect. Listen to learn about prairie vole social behavior, MSN excitability, methodologies for quantifying partner preference, and more!

Nucleus accumbens core medium spiny neuron electrophysiological properties and partner preference behavior in the adult male prairie vole, Microtus ochrogaster
Jaime A. Willett, Ashlyn G. Johnson, Andrea R. Vogel, Heather B. Patisaul, Lisa A. McGraw, and John Meitzen
Journal of Neurophysiology, Published online April 18, 2018.
DOI: 10.1152/jn.00737.2017.

May the power be with you: Highly powered studies in neuroscience

Listen as Editor-in-Chief Bill Yates talks with Johannes Algermissen (Donders Institute, Radboud University) and David Mehler (Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre) about a new NeuroForum which discusses recent work on statistical power in neuroscience studies. They also discuss recent developments meant to address power problems, and offer suggestions to continue the trend of increasing power. Learn about statistical models, effect sizes, new techniques for data collection, career advancement in science, and more!

May the power be with you: Are there highly powered studies in neuroscience, and how can we get more of them?
Johannes Algermissen and David Marc Anton Mehler
Journal of Neurophysiology, Article in Press.
DOI: 10.1152/jn.00765.2017.

Neurogenesis: Remembering all or forgetting some

In this new podcast based on a recent NeuroForum article, Editor-in-Chief Bill Yates talks with Dr. Shikha Jain Goodwin (University of Minnesota, soon to be University of Pittsburgh) about a minireview of recent studies which explore what happens to memories formed before neurogenesis in the hippocampus. They also discuss the process of submitting a NeuroForum article, and the experience of transitioning from PhD studies to post-doctoral research. Listen to learn about memory maintenance, conflicting results, career advancement in science, and more!

Neurogenesis: Remembering all or forgetting some
Shikha Jain Goodwin
Journal of Neurophysiology, Article in Press.
DOI: 10.1152/jn.00428.2017.

Differentiating wakefulness from unconsciousness

What is consciousness, and how can we definitively determine whether one is conscious or unconscious? In this podcast, Editor-in-Chief Bill Yates (University of Pittsburgh) talks with Dr. A. Vania Apkarian (Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine) about new study which investigated these questions by computing a variety of neural information measures in awake and anesthetized rats. This study was also chosen for February's issue of APSselect. Listen to learn about states of consciousness, confounds for neural metrics, BOLD variability, and more!

BOLD temporal variability differentiates wakefulness from anesthesia-induced unconsciousness
Alexis T. Baria, Maria V. Centeno, Mariam E. Ghantous, Pei C. Chang, Daniele Procissi, and A. Vania Apkarian
Journal of Neurophysiology, published online March 1, 2018.
DOI: 10.1152/jn.00714.2017.

Arm-cycling for poststroke walking rehabilitation

Is it possible that training the arms may influence the rehabilitation of walking following stroke? If so, how does this occur? In this podcast, Editor-in-Chief Bill Yates (University of Pittsburgh) talks with Dr. E. Paul Zehr (University of Victoria, British Columbia) about new study which explores these questions, and which was chosen for February's issue of APSselect. Listen to learn about locomotor central pattern-generating networks, cutaneous reflex modulation, interlimb connectivity, and more!

Rhythmic arm cycling training improves walking and neurophysiological integrity in chronic stroke: the arms can give legs a helping hand in rehabilitation
Chelsea Kaupp, Gregory E. P. Pearcey, Taryn Klarner, Yao Sun, Hilary Cullen, Trevor S. Barss, and E. Paul Zehr
Journal of Neurophysiology, published online March 9, 2018.
DOI: 10.1152/jn.00570.2017.

Tactile perception of the roughness of 3D-printed textures

How do the physical parameters of a surface affect the neural perception of roughness? In this podcast, Editor-in-Chief Bill Yates (University of Pittsburgh) talks with Chelsea Tymms (NYU) and Dr. Esther Gardner (NYU) about their new study, which was chosen for January's issue of APSselect. This study investigated in human subjects how estimations of roughness vary for precisely defined, 3D-printed surfaces. Listen to learn about parametric modeling of surfaces, the role of papillary ridges in touch, and more!

Tactile perception of the roughness of 3D-printed textures
Chelsea Tymms, Denis Zorin, and Esther P. Gardner
Journal of Neurophysiology, published online March 1, 2018.
DOI: 10.1152/jn.00564.2017.

Neural computations for action recognition

What neural computations play a role in allowing the visual system to recognize similar actions from different persepectives? In this podcast, Editor-in-Chief Bill Yates (University of Pittsburgh) talks with Dr. Leyla Isik (MIT) about a new study which uses neural imaging and computational modeling to investigate the ways that defined actions are encoded across changes in viewpoint. Listen to learn about complex visual transformations, computer vision algorithms, the importance of neural timing, and more!

A fast, invariant representation for human action in the visual system
Leyla Isik, Andrea Tacchetti, and Tomaso Poggio
Journal of Neurophysiology, published online February 13, 2018.
DOI: 10.1152/jn.00642.2017.

Response inhibition in M1

What happens in primary motor cortex inhibitory networks when movement cancellation is forewarned vs. unexpected? In this podcast, Editor-in-Chief Bill Yates (University of Pittsburgh) talks with Matthew Cowie, Dr. John Cirillo, and Dr. Winston Byblow (all from the University of Auckland) about a new study which uses informative and uninformative cues along with TMS to investigate long- and short-interval intracortical inhibition during response inhibtion tasks. Listen to learn about the paradigms used, the role of GABA, and more!

Response inhibition activates distinct motor cortical inhibitory processes
John Cirillo, Matthew J. Cowie, Hayley J. MacDonald, Winston D. Byblow
Journal of Neurophysiology, published online December 6, 2017.
DOI: 10.1152/jn.00784.2017.

Updating the role of force feedback in the spinal cord

What role does force feedback from Golgi tendon organs play in regulating mechanics during voluntary limb movement? Within the spinal cord, force feedback has excitatory and inhibitory components that co-exist in various combinations based on motor task and integrated with length feedback at the pre-motoneuronal and motoneuronal levels. In this podcast, Editor-in-Chief Bill Yates (University of Pittsburgh) talks with Dr. Richard Nichols (Georgia Tech) about a new review article which explores recent research on distributed force feedback and motor control. Listen to learn about historical views, new results, and future work in this important area!

Distributed force feedback in the spinal cord and the regulation of limb mechanics
T. Richard Nichols
Journal of Neurophysiology, published online December 6, 2017. DOI: 10.1152/jn.00216.2017.

A new paradigm for training rhesus monkeys

Standardized training protocols are necessary in all animal research. However, new technology has allowed automation of training protocol, guaranteeing a greater degree of control and standardization than ever before. In this podcast, Editor-in-Chief Bill Yates (University of Pittsburgh) talks with Dr. Michael Berger (German Primate Center), Dr. Antonino Calapai (German Primate Center), and Dr. Valeska Stephan (German Primate Center) about their new across-task unsupervised training (AUT) paradigm for rhesus monkeys in neuroscience research settings. Listen to learn about a recent study on the effectiveness, benefits, and challenges of using the AUT.

Standardized automated training of rhesus monkeys for neuroscience research in their housing environment
Michael Berger, Antonino Calapai, Valeska Stephan, Michael Niessing, Leonore Burchardt, Alexander Gail, and Stefan Treue
Journal of Neurophysiology, published online November 15, 2017. DOI: 10.1152/jn.00614.2017.