Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
In this Perspective, Josh Berke discusses recent developments in the study of dopamine function. He proposes a model that explains how dopamine can serve as both a learning signal and as a critical modulator of motivated decision-making.
Microglial immune checkpoint mechanisms are signaling pathways that limit immune responsiveness and promote homeostatic activities of micrroglia throughout life, but can interfere with repair mechanisms in disease.
The authors argue that intracranial EEG recordings in humans add unique information beyond invasive recordings in animal models and noninvasive human research, including anatomically precise dynamics and network interactions of neuronal populations.
The authors discuss newly emerging evidence for the role of the transcription factor CREB in memory, including its role in modulating changes in excitability that are critical for neural assembly formation and linking of memories across time.
Research in adolescent neurocognitive development has focussed largely on averages, but there is substantial individual variation in development. This Perspective proposes that the field should move towards studying individual differences.
The key driver of early-stage Alzheimer’s pathophysiology remains controversial. Styr and Slutsky propose that failures in firing homeostasis and imbalance between stability and plasticity represent the driving force of early disease progression.
