Research Highlights in 2021

In individuals with schizophrenia, a reduced capacity to infer relationships between visual stimuli is associated with impaired spontaneous neural replay.

A neuropeptidergic neural pathway that drives sneezing in mice is identified.

A study shows that myelin loss may contribute to neurodegeneration in a mouse model of Alzheimer disease.

Regenerative neurogenesis after spinal cord injury in zebrafish involves TNF signalling between lesion-activated macrophages and spinal progenitor cells.

A population of subthalamic inhibitory neurons are central to a circuit controlling curiosity-driven investigatory behaviour in mice.

Liquid–liquid phase separation of CaMKII and glutamate receptor clusters in postsynaptic membranes might mediate trans-synaptic alignment with the presynaptic vesicle release machinery.

Neural firing demonstrates phase precession in human hippocampal complex, allowing representation of spatial and non-spatial information for navigation.

A mismatch between cell adhesion proteins at the mossy fibre synapse drives female-specific synaptic and cognitive dysfunction in a mouse model of developmental and epileptic encephalopathy 9.

Closure of the critical period of a motor circuit in Drosophila melanogaster larvae is regulated by neuroligin–neurexin signalling between astrocytes and motor neurons.

A study shows that reducing tau acetylation protected neurons in a mouse model of traumatic brain injury.

The human hippocampal-entorhinal network supports contextual memory during spatial navigation.

In humans, the anterior lateral prefrontal cortex is crucial for assessing the likelihood that a future decision will be correct.

Analyses of recurrent neural networks and neural data show how the concept of magnitude is generalized across different contexts.

TREM2 acts to limit the progression of amyloid-β-driven tau pathology in a mouse model of Alzheimer disease.

Stressful experience increases erroneous choices in a reward-based learning task by weakening excitatory synapses in the lateral habenula via a reduction in AMPA-receptor-mediated synaptic transmission.

A neuroprosthetic baroreflex can restore haemodynamic stability in models of acute and chronic spinal cord injury.

Activity in different parts of the mouse striatum is faithfully predicted by topographically connected areas of cortex.

Projections from the anterior cingulate cortex to the nucleus accumbens are required for the social transfer of pain or analgesia in mice.

In flies, neurons that are common to both sexes regulate aggressive approach, whereas other, sex-specific neurons control attack behaviours.

The innate responses of mice to sweet-tasting or bitter-tasting stimuli can be modulated by top-down feedback from the cortex.