Seneca Scott

Oh look we are still having this debate

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A cholinergic mechanism orchestrating task-dependent computation across the cortex In an ever-changing environment, animals often need to switch between performing different tasks involving distinct sets of cognitive processes. Many such tasks involve neural activity distributed acr...

The basal forebrain plays the cortex like a piano.

Impact of precisely-timed inhibition of gustatory cortex on taste behavior depends on single-trial ensemble dynamics Primary taste cortex does far more than code tastes by turning taste codes into motor commands via population dynamics.

Very cool work! It’s super exciting to see these bifurcation dynamics in higher order regions. Seems parsimonious with work from the Katz lab on attractor state transitions in primary taste cortex!

elifesciences.org/articles/45968

Infraslow histaminergic dynamics govern priming states to gate moment-to-moment memory accessibility https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.13.687922v1

Great study showing how histaminergic signaling shapes head-direction cell activity in the presence of objects, with important implications for how animals get oriented. A huge amount of work, really impressive.

www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-7...

TT faculty job opening in #Neuroscience!
We are looking for a colleague to join us in our fantastic Biology Department and Neuroscience Program at Brandeis. We are a group of *very* collaborative, supportive, and productive scientists (& humans!) so please apply
academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30961

It’s not the thought that counts: Allostasis at the core of brain function The authors review evidence that the primary function of the brain, supported by distributed neural systems, is the predictive regulation of physiology (i.e., allostasis). An example from Alzheimer’s ...

It’s not the thought that counts: Allostasis at the core of brain function: Neuron www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...

This looks super cool; by @jtheriault.bsky.social
By the way congrats really!

Meningeal macrophages exhibit diverse calcium signaling at steady-state and in response to aberrant cortical hyperexcitability in awake mice The meninges, which envelop and protect the brain, host a large number of resident macrophages that play a crucial role in regulating homeostasis and neuroinflammation. Intracellular Ca2+ signaling me...

A new preprint out from the Levy lab, adding knowledge to the exciting world of brain border macrophages and neuroimmunology.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Amygdala–liver signalling orchestrates glycaemic responses to stress Nature - Studies in mice show that acute stress activates hyperglycaemia via activation of a medial amygdala–ventral hypothalamic circuit that controls glucose metabolic responses in the...

Excited to share that my PhD work has been published! www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧠🧪

Vascular draining confounds laminar decoding in fMRI https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.26.672278v1

Abstract Oxytocin is a neuropeptide that has historically been recognised for its role in childbirth, lactation, and sexual reproduction. Subsequently, research expanded its influence to include social bonding and behaviors, emphasising its role in facilitating interpersonal relationships. More recent studies, however, have revealed its broader influence, extending to non-social behaviors and cognitive processes, underscoring its ability to modulate a diverse array of behavioral and mental functions. This evolving understanding calls for a critical re-evaluation of oxytocin’s classification as a “social” hormone. The Allostatic Theory of Oxytocin, which integrates both psychological and physiological dimensions, provides an alternative framework that accounts for how oxytocin modulates both social and non-social behaviors. At the core of this framework is behavioral flexibility, which is essential for adapting to dynamic environments. In this review, we explore the role of oxytocin in facilitating behavioral and cognitive flexibility using mechanistic, survival, and evolutionary perspectives. Additionally, we focus on the interactions between oxytocin and other signalling systems that influence behavioral flexibility. Collectively, our findings underscore the benefits of reframing oxytocin’s function in behavior within a broader framework that encompasses both social and non-social aspects. This more expansive perspective not only deepens our understanding of oxytocin’s multifaceted roles but also opens avenues for novel research approaches.

I think it's time to retire the idea that oxytocin is exclusively a 'social' hormone.

In our latest preprint, led by @kjerstimw.bsky.social, we argue that oxytocin should be reframed as a behavioral flexibility hormone osf.io/preprints/os...

Brain endothelial gap junction coupling enables rapid vasodilation propagation during neurovascular coupling Vasodilatory signals are rapidly communicated across long distances by endothelial-endothelial gap junctions, enabling coordinated dilation of the arterial network during neurovascular coupling.

We’re excited to share our recent study published in @cellpress.bsky.social! In this work, we show that brain endothelial cells, connected by gap junctions, form a signaling highway to enable fast, long-range arterial vasodilation in neurovascular coupling.

You can find it below:

Astrocytes connect specific brain regions through plastic gap junctional networks https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.18.665573v1

Very cool work! I’ve been on the edge of my seat for the final version since reading the pre-print!

Reward history guides focal attention in whisker somatosensory cortex Nature Communications - Mice flexibly shift attention between specific whiskers on a rapid timescale based on recent stimulus reward history in a detection task. Attention is correlated with a...

New paper from Deepa Ramamurthy in my lab, just out. Mice flexibly shift attention between different whiskers based on the recent history of whisker stimuli and rewards, during a tactile detection task. We saw a strong neural correlate of this attentional capture in S1 cortex.

rdcu.be/euij3

The interoceptive origin of reinforcement learning Rewards play a crucial role in sculpting all motivated behavior. Traditionally, research on reinforcement learning has centered on how rewards guide learning and decision-making. Here, we examine the ...

Trends in Cognitive Sciences

The interoceptive origin of reinforcement learning

www.cell.com/trends/cogni...

I got an NoA for NINDS F31 about a month ago. Unsurprisingly, Brown has yet to receive any money though

(5/5)

🚨 It’s time to flood the zone.

NIH scientists just took a huge risk speaking out. Now it’s our turn.

📜 Read the Bethesda Declaration
✍️ Sign the Public Letter of Support
👯‍♀️Follow NIHers doing the work: @nihvigils.bsky.social

Read and sign here 👉 www.standupforscience.net/bethesda-dec...

Empirical evidence of the neuroactive potential of the gut on neurochemistry in the gut-brain axis in humans https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.07.652653v1

Neurovascular Impulse Response Function (IRF) during spontaneous activity differentially reflects intrinsic neuromodulation across cortical regions Ascending neuromodulatory projections from deep brain nuclei generate internal brain states that differentially engage specific neuronal cell types. Because neurovascular coupling is cell-type specifi...

Exactly to your point, I just found this on BlueSky today!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The hemo-neural hypothesis: on the role of blood flow in information processing - PubMed Brain vasculature is a complex and interconnected network under tight regulatory control that exists in intimate communication with neurons and glia. Typically, hemodynamics are considered to exclusiv...

People have speculated about whether bloodflow modulates neural activity before! See: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17913979/. Also attaching some great experimental work by Filosa and colleges showing this does seem to happen: www.jneurosci.org/content/36/5...

Some good news/data for the Bluesky hivemind: I just received an NOA for an NINDS F31 award! We’re being funded at about 50% of the initial ask - not sure if that is an individualized rate or standard policy moving forward(?)

In vivo reconstruction of Duvernoy's postmortem vasculature images

- Fast, high-res imaging: Whole-brain 0.35 mm MRI in <7 min at 7 T
- Vessel-type specific podt-processing: Capturing large leptomeningeal, pial, and intracortical meso-veins

PDF: doi.org/10.1101/2025...

I came across a quote in an article, which I will paraphrase: the ultimate goal of neuroscience is to model the brain and derive laws that define the brain’s computational abilities. Statements like this are common and presented as self-evident, but I think they are wrong.

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We're new to the @bsky.app neighborhood.
Follow us for smart science about the mind and brain.
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Curious about the history of the manifold/trajectory view of neural activity.

My own first exposure was Gilles Laurent's chapter in "21 Problems in Systems Neuroscience", where he cites odor trajectories in locust AL (2005). This was v inspiring as a biophysics student studying dynamical systems...

Simultaneous, real-time tracking of many neuromodulatory signals with Multiplexed Optical Recording of Sensors on a micro-Endoscope https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.01.26.634931v1

The curious case of dopaminergic prediction errors and learning associative information beyond value - Nature Reviews Neuroscience Midbrain dopamine neurons are widely assumed to signal a unidimensional value-based prediction error. In this Perspective, Kahnt and Schoenbaum overview accumulating evidence that challenges this assu...

Nature Reviews Neuroscience

The curious case of dopaminergic prediction errors and learning associative information beyond value

idp.nature.com/authorize?re...

Just submitted my application!

Our Sleep, Brain Aging, and Waste Clearance How sleep prevents "dirty" brains that age faster

Publications in the past week built substantially on our knowledge of the brain's waste disposal system—glymphatics—and the implications on sleep and brain aging.
Featuring exceptional work by Nedergaard Lab and @jonykipnis.bsky.social
erictopol.substack.com/p/our-sleep-... open-access