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The International Brain Laboratory presents a brain-wide electrophysiological map obtained from pooling data from 12 laboratories that performed the same standardized perceptual decision-making task in mice.

Bruijns et al. present a modeling tool that enables the tracking of learning dynamics across subjects to reveal how behaviors emerge and adapt. Applying the tool to a decision-making task in mice uncovers similarities and differences across individuals.

Brain-wide recordings in mice reveal that prior expectations are distributed through recurrent loops across all levels of cortical and subcortical processing.

Proteins have been developed that emit flashes of light in response to influxes of calcium ions into cells on millisecond timescales. Two sets of scientists discuss the legacy and future of these proteins.

DREDge is a software tool for motion correction of high-density electrophysiology recordings. It can handle action potential or local field potential data and is demonstrated on a variety of acute or chronic recordings from humans, nonhuman primates and mice.

The logic of feedback connectivity in the visual system is largely unknown. Here the authors show that border-ownership tuned cells in V4 have stronger feedback connectivity with V1 cells located in their preferred figure location.

The authors implement model-based analyses to uncover strategies used by mice and humans during sensory decision-making. Contrary to common wisdom, mice do not lapse and, instead, switch between sustained engaged and disengaged states.

Lightning Pose is an efficient pose estimation approach that requires few labeled training data owing to its semi-supervised learning strategy and ensembling.

Humans and animals can collect and maintain information that guides decisions, but how neural circuits achieve this is unknown. It seems neural populations may do so by passing through diverse states in many possible sequences.

Noel et al. show aberrant updating of expectations in three distinct mouse models of autism spectrum disorder. Brain-wide neurophysiology data suggest this stems from excess units encoding deviations from prior mean and a lack of sensory prediction errors in frontal areas.

A modular architecture for managing and sharing electrophysiology, behavior, colony management and other data has been built to support individual laboratories or large consortia.

The philosopher Albert Camus once said, “Life is the sum of all your choices”. Work using an innovative experimental design in humans and rats shows that many of the errors in those choices come from the senses, not from cognition.

The many different behaviors mediated by the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) could arise from distinct specialized categories of neurons or from a single population of PPC neurons that is leveraged in different ways. The authors test this by studying rat PPC neurons during tasks involving multisensory decisions and conclude that a single network of neurons can support different behavioral demands.

The authors use a linear model to reveal how neural activity patterns are related to cognition or movements. They find that uninstructed movements dominate single-cell and population activity throughout the brain, outpacing task-related activity.

In decision circuits, inhibitory neurons signal animal choices. Here, the authors show that choice-selective inhibition can stabilize the circuit dynamics or promote competition depending on inhibitory output connections, affecting choice behavior.

Theoretical approaches have long shaped neuroscience, but current needs for theory are elevated and prospects for advancement are bright. Advances in measuring and manipulating neurons demand new models and analyses to guide interpretation. Advances in theoretical neuroscience offer new insights into how signals evolve across areas and new approaches for connecting population activity with behavior. These advances point to a global understanding of brain function based on a hybrid of diverse approaches.

Distinct cortical pyramidal neuron types, defined by developmental lineage, make unique contributions to behavioral decisions. We highlight the importance of interactions among diverse cortical and subcortical areas for successful decision outcomes.

An established framework that describes how visual neurons combine their inputs, divisive normalization, proves valuable in explaining multisensory processing in the superior colliculus and medial superior temporal area.

Neuroscientists can measure activity from more neurons than ever before, garnering new insights and posing challenges to traditional theoretical frameworks. New frameworks may help researchers use these observations to shed light on brain function.

In this review article, the authors give a brief overview of the sensory capabilities of rodents and of their cortical areas devoted to sensation and decision. They also review methods of psychophysics, focusing on the technical issues that arise in their implementation in rodents.

One of the ambitions of computational neuroscience is that we will continue to make improvements in the field of artificial intelligence that will be informed by advances in our understanding of how the brains of various species evolved to process information. To that end, here the authors propose an expanded version of the Turing test that involves embodied sensorimotor interactions with the world as a new framework for accelerating progress in artificial intelligence.

This protocol describes how to perform long-term wide-field imaging of neuronal activity in behaving mice. The procedure discusses how to assemble and calibrate the macroscope, surgical preparation, imaging and data analysis.