Electrophysiology

Recent articles

Patient being administered an EEG test.

Single-neuron recordings are helping to unravel complexities of human cognition

As this work begins to bear fruit, researchers “are becoming less afraid to ask very difficult questions that you can uniquely ask in people.”

By Claudia López Lloreda
14 March 2025 | 8 min read
Illustration of a mouse melting in front of a fan.

To beat the heat, hypothalamus neurons in mice ramp up their firing

The uptick may help the rodents acclimate to temperature hikes and keep their cool.

By Calli McMurray
11 December 2024 | 7 min read
Illustration of a funnel taking abstract shapes in at the top and spouting an organized flow of shapes out at the bottom.

To keep or not to keep: Neurophysiology’s data dilemma

An exponential growth in data size presents neuroscientists with a significant challenge: Should we be keeping all raw data or focusing on processed datasets? I asked experimentalists and theorists for their thoughts.

By Nima Dehghani
25 November 2024 | 5 min read
Three rhesus macaque monkeys.

Monkeys’ amygdala cells adapt to social status

The cells’ activity reflects social hierarchies and may enable flexible behavior.

By Angie Voyles Askham
6 November 2024 | 4 min read
Research image of neuron positions over time in mouse brain recordings.

Electrical fingerprints track single neurons over several months

The new approach, called UnitMatch, improves on past methods for analyzing large electrophysiological datasets, the researchers say.

By Claudia López Lloreda
1 November 2024 | 6 min read
Research image of mouse brain scans.

Widely distributed brain areas sync to orchestrate decisions in rodents

Multiple brain areas synchronize their activity to help a rodent accumulate the evidence it needs to make a choice, two new studies suggest.

By Claudia López Lloreda
29 October 2024 | 7 min read
Illustration of distorted lines of different colors being pulled into a box where they are smoothed in a single multicolored line.

Averaging is a convenient fiction of neuroscience

But neurons don’t take averages. This ubiquitous practice hides from us how the brain really works.

By Mark Humphries
23 September 2024 | 7 min read
Illustration of cranes attempting to assemble a structure out of very small black squares.

Reconstructing dopamine’s link to reward

The field is grappling with whether to modify the long-standing theory of reward prediction error—or abandon it entirely.

By Angie Voyles Askham
13 September 2024 | 20 min listen
Illustration of a neuron with cardinal directions superimposed over it as on a compass.

Neurons’ spikes may convey their whereabouts

The time lag between spurts of activity holds anatomical information, according to a preprint.

By Holly Barker
23 August 2024 | 4 min read
Illustration of a single digitally rendered figure wandering a fragmented and distorted virtual environment.

Nonsense correlations and how to avoid them

This statistical error is common in systems neuroscience. Fortunately, straightforward methods can help you prevent it.

By Kenneth Harris
12 August 2024 | 6 min listen

Explore more from The Transmitter

NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland.

Acting NIH director dismisses four neuroscientists from advisory boards

The letters they received this week did not include a reason for their termination.

By Calli McMurray, Angie Voyles Askham
25 March 2025 | 5 min read
Research image of protein synthesis in mice.

NIH neurodevelopmental assessment system now available as iPad app

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 24 March.

By Jill Adams
25 March 2025 | 2 min read
Illustration of a face covered by several black rectangles.

Keep sex as a biological variable: Don’t let NIH upheaval turn back the clock on scientific rigor

Even in the absence of any formal instruction to do so, we should continue to hold our ourselves and our neuroscience colleagues accountable for SABV practices.

By Rebecca Shansky
25 March 2025 | 7 min read