Volume 4 Issue 7, July 2001

In peripheral vision, individual item information becomes inaccessible in the presence of distractors. Parkes et al. now show this information is not lost, but integrated into accurate ensemble statistics, suggesting that such 'crowding' may be related to texture perception.

GABA is inhibitory in adults, but it is excitatory in young animals. A recent study shows that activation of the GABA_A receptor itself may promote this developmental switch.

Chemokine signaling releases glutamate from astrocytes. This process can be amplified by microglia, inducing neurotoxicity, and activated by the HIV coat protein gp120.

A new study reports unconscious activation of occipital and frontal cortex by masked visual stimuli, showing that activity in these areas may be insufficient for awareness