Volume 5 Issue 6, June 2002

Cultured sympathetic neurons contain an excitatory transmitter, norepinephrine, and one that is inhibitory, acetylcholine. A new paper shows that BDNF increases the ratio of acetylcholine to norepinephrine release, reversing the effect of neural stimulation from excitation to inhibition.

Dual recordings of projection neurons in the moth antennal lobe suggest a key role for synchrony resulting from interglomerular interactions in coding odor representations.

Posterior parietal cortex is critical for spatial processing. Calton et al. show that this area also represents the intention to make a certain type of movement, independent of its spatial target.

A new model shows that a range of visual illusions in humans can be explained as rational inferences about the odds that a motion stimulus on the retina results from a particular real-world source.