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The habenula is present in vertebrate brains but its function has remained obscure. Okihide Hikosaka reviews data from animal and human studies that indicate that the habenula, through its effects on dopamine and serotonin systems, regulates motor suppression in various contexts.
The diagnosis of autism is based on behavioural criteria. Robust phenotypes in mouse models hold great promise for the discovery of effective treatments for the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorders. Crawley and colleagues review the behavioural assays that are most relevant to the symptoms of human autism, along with the essential control measures.
In this comprehensive Review, Collingridge and colleagues describe the mechanisms underlying the induction and expression of various forms of long-term depression (LTD), and discuss the role of LTD in learning and memory as well as in various pathological processes.
Sensory afferent signals in visual cortical neurons are highly tuned to stimulus characteristics at the level of local Ca2+transients throughout the dendritic tree.
Individual neurons transform the relationship between synaptic input and output firing by utilizing both linear and nonlinear mechanisms. Angus Silver discusses the various underlying biophysical mechanisms in relation to the complexity of neuronal morphology and the neural coding regimes in which they are likely to operate.
The traditional distinction between declarative and nondeclarative forms of memory is based on conscious versus non-conscious learning and recall. Katharina Henke argues that consciousness is a poor criterion and presents an alternative model of memory systems that is based on processing operations.