Ralph Emilio Peterson

Pyramid Song by Radiohead is in some trippy incarnation of 7

Where does learning through imitation happen in the brain?

In juvenile zebra finches, we pinpoint a synaptic locus of song learning in a cortico-basal ganglia circuit and leverage this localization to measure the timescale of consolidation and make birds learn faster! #neuroskyence (1/14)

Not surprised, congrats Megan!!

A figure from our preprint showing ABR data as a line plot for sounds from the left and right at different sound levels.

1/4 New preprint! We designed an open-source system for auditory brainstem response (ABR), a research & clinical auditory test. Costs $400 to build (vs $10K to buy a proprietary one) and works great! All open-source if you want to make one for your lab or classroom. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Honestly a great combo

Congrats Banerjee lab! Beautiful work

As a longtime fan of cool papers in @currentbiology.bsky.social, I am really thrilled to see this out!

This study sets the stage for understanding the origins of novel (vocal) behaviors.

Big shout out to the main architects of this work @xmikezheng20.bsky.social and @cliffscience.bsky.social

Vocal repertoire expansion in singing mice by co-opting a conserved midbrain circuit node Zheng and Harpole et al. show that singing mice produce two major vocal modes: ancestral USVs and novel songs that follow a linearly decelerating rhythm. Although acoustically distinct, songs and USVs...

Great @currentbiology.bsky.social study by @xmikezheng20.bsky.social @cliffscience.bsky.social @arkarupbanerjee.bsky.social 🧪🧠🐭🎶
Vocal repertoire expansion in singing mice by co-opting a conserved midbrain circuit node
www.cell.com/current-biol...

Estrogen modulates reward prediction errors and reinforcement learning - Nature Neuroscience Dopamine encoding of reward prediction errors naturally fluctuates over females’ reproductive cycles with estrogenic signaling due to reduced expression of dopamine reuptake proteins.

Thrilled to share our new paper, out now in @natneuro.nature.com, uncovering how estradiol, the most potent estrogen, modulates reinforcement learning and reward prediction errors across biological levels. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#blueprint 1/7

Super excited to share the first part of my thesis work!

Perhaps how you might be able to both recognize someone’s voice *and* understand what they’re saying, we find that both social identity and vocalization category can be decoded from gerbil auditory cortex activity👂🧠

tinyurl.com/4fba6wk4

Less than a week left to apply!

🧠🌟🐭 Excited to share some of my postdoc work on the evolution of dexterity!

We compared deer mice evolved in forest vs prairie habitats. We found that forest mice have:
(1) more corticospinal neurons (CSNs)
(2) better hand dexterity
(3) more dexterous climbing, which is linked to CSN number🧵

Analysis of communication and collective behavior in animal groups

⭐PhD position available!⭐
Come join us @imprs-qbee.bsky.social to study communication and collective behavior in animal groups! We're looking for someone excited to use computational approaches to tackle biological questions, using our full-group tracking datasets
imprs-qbee.mpg.de/121465/analy...

New York City’s Rats Have a Secret Nightlife—And a Language Humans Can’t Hear A new preprint field study reveals that New York City’s rats aren’t just survivors—they’re talkative city dwellers with their own hidden nightlife. Mapping their movements and conversations could offe...

A new preprint field study reveals that New York City’s rats aren’t just survivors—they’re talkative city dwellers with their own hidden nightlife. Mapping their movements and conversations could offer insights to transform urban planning and pest control

New York City’s Rats Have a Secret Nightlife—And a Language Humans Can’t Hear A new preprint field study reveals that New York City’s rats aren’t just survivors—they’re talkative city dwellers with their own hidden nightlife. Mapping their movements and conversations could offe...

🌆🐀Scientific American article about the project we're starting on NYC rats!! scientificamerican.com/article/scie...

w/ Emily Mackevicius, Dima Batenkov, @zamakany.bsky.social, @basisresearch.bsky.social

Seeking collaborators and funders 🐀🌆

New paper on precise tool use learning in carrion crows @currentbiology.bsky.social. We show that—like New Caledonian crows—expert carrion crows pay close attention to the working end of their tool, suggesting tool integration into their peripersonal space. 🧵 & vids! 👇

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Can't wait to read this preprint from Misha Ahrens and team. Calcium imaging in larval zebrafish, in every cell in the body! Amazing.

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

What do neuroscience labs and the streets of New York City have in common? They are both commonly home to rats, a feature this research team is leveraging to study rat social cognition in the wild.

By @martajhill.bsky.social

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/social-cogni...

Postdoctoral Neuroscience Researcher - Storrs Mansfield, Connecticut job with Audette Lab, University of Connecticut | 38911 Fully funded postdoctoral research position studying context-dependent sensory processing in the mouse motor and auditory thalamus and cortex.

The lab is growing! Our team is seeking talented scientists to study flexible sensory processing. We design freely-moving and head-fixed acoustic behaviors alongside acute and wireless neural recordings. PD and grad roles available

Please help spread the word 🙏🧠🎵🐭

neurojobs.sfn.org/job/38911/po...

Thank you Jonny! Nice to see you back on here, I hope all is well.

Thanks! We use an AudioMoth and have really liked the quality/ease of use.

lol…loved the big rat appearance, very topical

Thank you! Some interesting vocalization observations…

bsky.app/profile/ralp...

Thank you!

Thank you! We are hosting someone on sabbatical now, so yes!

Thank you John!

Exactly.

We are piloting V2 of this work and would be excited to brainstorm next directions. Please be in touch if you have comments, questions, or would like to collaborate!

This is probably also a good time to announce that I have parlayed this literal PhD moonlight project into a postdoc at @basisresearch.bsky.social, where I am working on Collaborative Intelligent Systems (biological and artificial) with Emily Mackevicius.

Together, we show that it's possible to make high-resolution behavioral measurements of rats in their natural urban envt and apply modern ML tools for behavior + envt quant. We are working on more methods to map the sensory world and frameworks for inferring cognitive strategies within these worlds.