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FACED 2.0 builds on and expands the capabilities of the free-space angular-chirp-enhanced delay microscopy approach. Its high speed, large field of view and volumetric coverage enable two-photon voltage imaging of hundreds of neurons or calcium imaging of thousands of neurons in the mouse or zebrafish brain.

Connectivity patterns between neurons in the brain store recent sensory experiences, but how these patterns form is unclear. Here, the authors provide a model describing the process through which synaptic plasticity combined with homeostatic mechanisms allow stable neuronal assemblies to form.

Cortical networks switch from asynchronous firing to sudden synchronized population events. Here, the authors show that differential excitatory short-term synaptic plasticity onto either excitatory or inhibitory targets establishes and shapes the dynamics of these population events.

An automatic framework, SNOPS, is developed for configuring a spiking network model to reproduce neuronal recordings. It is used to discover previously unknown limitations of spiking network models, thereby guiding model development.

Using two-photon (2P) optogenetics and computational modeling, the authors find that neither space-based nor feature-based rules are sufficient to describe cell–cell interactions within the primary visual cortex (V1). Instead, models must include interactions between these cardinal axes.

The cortex contains a recurrent network of stochastically spiking neurons that performs many of the computations underlying perception and behavior. Here, the authors show how such networks can implement sampling-based probabilistic inference.

Deciphering a 'neural code' usually requires measurement of either the rate of spike (electrical impulses) production or the spike synchrony. However, these two measures are not independent, as higher rates are associated with higher synchrony. It is further shown that the connection between rate and synchrony enhances information coding.

Peripheral sensory organ damage leads to compensatory cortical plasticity. Here, the authors show that after noise trauma, auditory cortical neurons display cell-type-specific plasticity in their sound-evoked and intrinsic properties.

Aponte et al. show that cortical direction selectivity to frequency modulated sounds is shaped by asymmetric signal amplification within recurrent circuits. Optogenetics and network modelling demonstrate that this asymmetry arises due to broad spatial topography of SOM cell mediated inhibition.

The activity of cortical neurons is extremely noisy. This study builds a mathematical theory linking the spatial scales of cortical wiring to how noise is generated and distributed over a population of neurons. Predictions from the theory are validated using population recordings in primate visual area V1.

Excitatory connections in cortex are clustered into groups of highly connected neurons. Here the authors examine the effect this clustering has on the dynamics of neuronal networks with balanced excitation and inhibition. Their model suggests that the reported variability in spontaneous and evoked spiking activity may result from clustered cortical architecture.

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.

The state of the nervous system shifts constantly. Most studies focus on how state determines the average neural response, with little attention to the trial-to-trial fluctuations of brain activity. We review recent theoretical advances in modeling the physiological mechanisms responsible for state-dependent modulations in the correlated fluctuations of neuronal populations.