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In this Perspective, the authors discuss the recent surge in the collection of "big behavioral data" and how it might contribute to the understanding of how the brain controls behavior. They also highlight the challenges of making sense of increasing amounts of behavioral data.
Due to recent technological developments in acquisition techniques, the field of electron microscopy-based connectomics now produces colossal amounts of data. Here, the authors discuss the practical and analytical challenges associated with such large amounts of data and propose some solutions to surmount them.
Orexins (hypocretins) are involved in a large variety of behaviors and physiological processes including feeding, sleep/wake regulation, and reward. In this perspective, the authors propose a unifying function for orexins in translating motivational activation into sets of processes that support adaptive behaviors.
Large-scale collaborative efforts coupled with new genomic technologies now allow reliable detection of genetic variants influencing risk for major psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. In this Perspective the authors provide a primer on current genome-wide efforts to identify risk variants and how these may be translated into neurobiological insights.
The authors review the recently observed relationships between breathing and the sensations of smell and vibrissa-based touch. These data and other experimental evidence are used to support the hypothesis that the breathing rhythm serves not only as a motor drive signal, but also as a common clock that binds these two senses into a common percept.
The authors examine papers in high profile journals and find that while collection of multiple observations from a single research object is common practice, such nested data are often analyzed using inappropriate statistical techniques. The authors show that this results in increased Type I error rates, and propose multilevel modelling to address this issue.
In this Perspective, the authors review the literature and suggest that the cognitive pathology that often accompanies preterm birth and/or very low birth weight may be a direct result of perinatal hypoxia that, in turn, leads to perturbations in the maturation and development of interneurons, oligodendrocytes and astrocytes.
