Volume 7 Issue 2, February 2004

Rapid behavioral response times have been suggested to indicate that the brain may code stimulus properties in terms of the latency of the first action potential evoked by a stimulus. A new study provides the first experimental evidence for this idea.

An elegant study in this issue shows that induction of synaptic plasticity can also trigger long-lasting increases in dendritic excitability near the potentiated synapses. This may represent a new locus for memory storage and a substrate for metaplasticity.

The mechanisms by which bilateral asymmetry is established in the nervous system are poorly understood. A recent report in Nature describes a novel microRNA that mediates left–right asymmetry in a pair of C. elegans chemosensory neurons.

Does awareness of the internal state of one's body relate to the conscious experience of feeling? A new imaging study suggests that body awareness mediated by activity in the anterior insular cortex may contribute to the intensity of negative emotions.