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Tang et al. show that continuous language can be decoded from functional MRI recordings to recover the meaning of perceived and imagined speech stimuli and silent videos and that this language decoding requires subject cooperation.

Two monkeys solved combinatorial optimization problems for rewards. They deliberated for extended durations, approximated efficient computational algorithms for managing complexity, and even selected algorithms according to the computational complexity of the trial. These findings reveal evidence for algorithm-based reasoning and establish a paradigm for studying the neurophysiological basis of deliberative thought.

In this issue, Shinn et al. demonstrate a close relationship between complex brain network topology and lower-level statistical properties of neuroimaging data. They also highlight the potential of these statistical measures, which capture similarity in space and time, to provide imaging-based markers of aging and pharmacological states.

The authors created a comprehensive developmental cell atlas for spatiotemporal gene expression of the human spinal cord, revealed species-specific regulation during development and used the atlas to infer novel markers for pediatric ependymomas.

In this study, Petrucco, Lavian et al. identify a circuit in the hindbrain of larval zebrafish that persistently encodes heading direction. Neurons of this network, of stereotypical morphology, inhibit each other to support ring attractor dynamics.

Mechanisms of cognitive resilience against Tau pathology are unknown. The authors show that inactivation of the microglial cGAS–interferon axis confers such resilience by preserving the neuronal expression of myocyte enhancer factor 2c.

Individual variation in fMRI-derived brain networks is reproduced in a model using only the smoothness (autocorrelation) of the fMRI time series. Smoothness has implication for aging and can be causally manipulated by psychedelic serotonergic drugs.

Andersen, Thom and colleagues reveal the single-cell-resolution transcriptome of the midgestation human spinal cord and discover remarkable heterogeneity across and within cell types.

The authors develop a reward optimization framework to study sustained deliberation in nonhuman primates. As the computational complexity increased, animals deliberated longer and applied more complex reasoning strategies to optimize rewards.

Dopamine error signals are modeled as deviations from a single predictive stream. The authors show that in complex settings, these neurons access multiple predictive streams, reflecting beliefs in the timing and identities of expected rewards.

The authors combine functional imaging, electrophysiology and molecular identification to examine the inhibitory control of hippocampal memory traces and uncover a role for specific populations of interneurons in regulating memory reactivation events during learning.

How does the brain define a useful decision variable (DV) when many possibilities are available? The authors show that rather than committing to the DV used to solve the task, the mouse’s premotor cortex entertains several strategies in parallel.

To fight or not to fight? Wei et al. show that Esr1 cells in the mouse cMPOA encode the fighting capability of male opponents and use this information to suppress aggression toward superior opponents by inhibiting attack-mediating ventromedial hypothalamus cells.

Zhu et al. show that basal forebrain cholinergic neurons send fast, specific information about a broad range of sensory stimuli to the auditory cortex, modulated by slower fluctuations in cholinergic activity. These findings help us to understand how the cholinergic system multiplexes diverse representations to fulfil its multifaceted roles in attention, learning and memory.