Volume 23 Issue 8, August 2020

Citation count has become one of the most important methods to evaluate a scientist’s contributions. In an extensive analysis of citations from a number of leading neuroscience journals, Dworkin and colleagues find evidence of gender bias in citation practices that can have an adverse impact on women’s careers.

Poll and colleagues examined the historical activity of hippocampal CA1 neurons during learning and memory recall using longitudinal two-photon in vivo imaging, providing evidence that extra neural ensemble activity disrupts memory recall in a mouse model of early Alzheimer’s disease.

Recent studies separately address the neural representation of stimuli and its dynamics in networks that model neural interactions. Ju and Bassett review such recent advances and discuss the integration of neural representations and network models.

Using data from top neuroscience journals, this study finds that women-led work tends to be undercited relative to expectations. This imbalance is driven largely by the citation practices of men and is increasing over time as the field diversifies.

Andreone, Przybyla et al. used induced pluripotent stem cell-derived human microglia to show that TREM2-dependent phagocytosis and lipid metabolism require the Alzheimer’s risk factor PLCγ2, which can also mediate TREM2-independent inflammatory signaling via Toll-like receptors.

Giovannoni et al. report that the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is a novel host factor exploited by Zika virus and dengue virus to evade the immune response. AHR is a candidate target for the treatment of Zika virus congenital syndrome and dengue fever.

Mice with AD-like pathology and memory impairments surprisingly have memory engrams in their hippocampus. However, interference with novelty-like cells prevents proper recall, erroneously letting mice perceive a previously learned context as novel.

Lovett-Barron et al. register in situ gene expression to cellular-level neural dynamics in behaving zebrafish and find threat-selective populations spanning multiple hypothalamic peptidergic neuron classes, which converge on brainstem defensive action premotor neurons.

Soden et al. use cell-type-specific retrograde tracing to identify neurotransmitter-specific inputs to the ventral tegmental area, uncovering an underappreciated number of GABAergic inputs with diverse innervation patterns and behavioral functions.

Cellular imaging reveals that visual cue-evoked activity patterns in visual association cortex are reactivated during subsequent quiet waking. Reactivation rates scale with cue salience and predict next-day changes in functional connectivity and behavior.

Laszlovszky et al. demonstrate the presence of two types of cholinergic neurons that differ in cellular physiology, coupling with cortical oscillations, synchrony within each group, behavior performance correlates and anatomical distribution.

Sasaki et al. demonstrate that neurons in the macaque parietal cortex (ventral intraparietal area) flexibly represent object motion in either a head-centered or world-centered reference frame depending on the requirements of the task.

Barbosa, Stein et al. show that rather than operating independently, PFC persistent activity and ‘activity-silent’ mechanisms interact dynamically to produce serial effects in working memory, consistent with attractor models with synaptic plasticity.

Wimmer et al. show that successful recall of an extended episode of experience in humans is associated with temporally compressed replay of neural patterns associated with the memory, and that the direction of replay depends on task goals.