The European Journal Of Neuroscience[JOURNAL]
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200 papers
Distinct Neuronal Activation in the Paraventricular Nucleus of the Hypothalamus Accompanies Baroreflex Impairment and Elevated Cardiac Sympathetic Tone in Salt-Loaded Rats.
de Oliveira AB, Soares PS, Gomes PM … +1 more , Antunes VR
Eur J Neurosci · 2026 May · PMID 42204842 · Publisher ↗
The paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVH) plays a pivotal role in body fluid homeostasis and in autonomic regulation of cardiovascular function, particularly under conditions of high salt intake-induced hyper...
The paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVH) plays a pivotal role in body fluid homeostasis and in autonomic regulation of cardiovascular function, particularly under conditions of high salt intake-induced hypertension. Here, we investigated, in an animal model of short-term high salt exposure, its impact on baroreflex function, cardiac autonomic balance, and the pattern and phenotype of PVH neuronal activation in response to baroreflex challenge in adult rats. Salt loading significantly increased mean arterial pressure and heart rate, indicating the development of hypertension. This was accompanied by impaired baroreflex function, characterized by a reduced functional range and autonomic imbalance marked by enhanced cardiac sympathetic tone, without changes in the vagal component. During pharmacologically induced baroreflex activation, salt-loaded animals exhibited greater c-Fos expression within the PVH compared with euhydrated controls. Notably, baroreflex stimulation in euhydrated and salt-loaded animals recruited oxytocinergic neurons, whereas in salt-loaded rats, it additionally engaged vasopressinergic neurons, revealing an atypical pattern of neuronal recruitment. Together, these findings demonstrate that short-term high salt intake induces hypertension, impairs baroreflex function, and increases cardiac sympathetic tone. These functional alterations are associated with enhanced PVH activation and the recruitment of vasopressinergic neurons during baroreflex loading, highlighting the central role of PVH in salt-induced hypertension and autonomic dysregulation.
Skin Conductance Dynamics Across Freezing of Gait, Voluntary Stopping, and Walking in Parkinson's Disease: Effects of Medication State in Semi-Free-Living Environments.
Delgado-Terán JD, van Wezel RJA, Heida T
Eur J Neurosci · 2026 May · PMID 42186713 · Publisher ↗
Freezing of gait (FOG) is one of the most debilitating symptoms experienced by people with Parkinson's Disease. Cueing strategies have been shown to help people overcome FOG. Current systems do not adequately capture the...
Freezing of gait (FOG) is one of the most debilitating symptoms experienced by people with Parkinson's Disease. Cueing strategies have been shown to help people overcome FOG. Current systems do not adequately capture the complexity of FOG and often struggle to differentiate it from similar movement patterns, such as voluntary stops. FOG is also associated with complex psychological and physiological processes, suggesting that changes in autonomic nervous system activity may accompany freezing episodes. Including sensors that measure autonomic changes in the nervous system could therefore complement existing approaches to FOG monitoring. Previous studies have shown that skin conductance (SC) and its features change in temporal proximity to FOG episodes. We analyzed the SC of 19 participants with self-reported daily FOG episodes in a semi-free-living environment. The experiments were performed in ON and OFF medication states. We compared four features extracted from the SC of freezing episodes and pre-freezing to voluntary stops, walking, and their interaction with medication using generalized linear mixed models. We found that the median, tonic level, and area under the curve of the phasic component differed significantly across motor conditions and temporal states, particularly when comparing FOG with walking, and were modulated by medication state. No consistent differences were observed between freezing and voluntary stopping across all features. Our results demonstrate that skin conductance captures autonomic differences related to motor context, medication state, and temporal proximity to freezing, including changes that occur shortly before a freeze. Incorporating these physiological markers into wearable technology could support multimodal, medication-aware approaches to FOG monitoring and cueing, potentially improving the daily lives of individuals with FOG.
The Role of Set Size and Attention in Face Ensemble Processing.
Koch D, Fedorova E, Kleeva D … +1 more , Kosonogov V
Eur J Neurosci · 2026 May · PMID 42186399 · Publisher ↗
The visual system can extract statistical information from multiple human faces in the form of ensemble representation. Despite extensive research, the automaticity of face ensemble encoding is still under debate. Some s...
The visual system can extract statistical information from multiple human faces in the form of ensemble representation. Despite extensive research, the automaticity of face ensemble encoding is still under debate. Some studies suggest that face ensemble encoding occurs automatically, while others postulate a capacity-limited processing that requires attentional resources. This inconsistency might be attributed to methodological differences in set size: A group-based size comprises several faces, whereas a crowd-based size exceeds eight faces. Such variation in set size may modulate the role of attention, where the group-based size favors automatic encoding, and the crowd-based size necessitates attentional engagement due to extensive noise. We addressed these questions by recording event-related potentials (ERP) of electroencephalography (EEG) in 35 subjects. Participants underwent three conditions: the implicit condition (ignoring faces while performing a fixation task), the explicit condition (detecting changes in the mean emotion), and the categorization condition (recognition of emotion proportion for each trial). We found that early components showed consistent set size effects across all tasks, indicating automatic sensory processing. However, participants could detect changes in average emotional expressions only in the explicit condition (compared to the implicit one), as was reflected in the P3 and LPP components of ERP. The categorization task results suggest that ensemble extraction alone is insufficient for forming predictions. Moreover, theta-band oscillations supported our findings only in the explicit condition for the group-based set size. These results suggest that face ensemble perception involves both automatic sensory registration and attention-dependent comparison of ensemble statistics.
Speech-Like Vibrotactile Stimulation Is Associated With Enhanced Cortical Activations in Single-Sided Deafness: An fMRI Study.
Sofack G, Giegerich O, Arndt S … +8 more , Aschendorff A, Glauche V, Musso M, Bormann T, Mast H, Rau A, Urbach H, Speck I
Eur J Neurosci · 2026 May · PMID 42175576 · Publisher ↗
Audiotactile cues can enhance speech perception in noise, yet the neural mechanisms underlying vibrotactile speech processing remain poorly understood, particularly in individuals with single-sided deafness (SSD). The pr...
Audiotactile cues can enhance speech perception in noise, yet the neural mechanisms underlying vibrotactile speech processing remain poorly understood, particularly in individuals with single-sided deafness (SSD). The present study investigated how adults with acquired SSD process a complex amplitude-modulated speech-derived vibrotactile stimulus compared to simple periodic vibration, and how these responses differ from normal-hearing (NH) controls. Twenty adults with acquired SSD and 20 age- and sex-matched NH controls underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during vibrotactile stimulation using a simple periodic vibration (125 Hz) and speech-derived vibrotactile stimulus. Behavioral performance (hit rate, reaction time) was measured. Region-of-interest analyses quantified activation in primary auditory cortex (PAC) and primary somatosensory cortex (S1). Additional analyses assessed differences in left versus right SSD and correlations between neural measures and clinical variables. Both groups responded faster to 125 Hz than vibrotactile speech stimuli (p = 0.03). Compared with NH controls, adults with SSD showed widespread activation of bilateral middle cingulate gyrus and the frontal operculum when processing the speech-derived vibrotactile stimulus. Region-of-interest analyses revealed reduced stimulus selectivity in primary somatosensory cortex in SSD compared to NH, together with increased recruitment of the inferior frontal gyrus during speech-derived vibrotactile stimulation. Furthermore, left-hemisphere dominance was found in primary auditory cortex for both left and right SSD during both stimuli conditions. Exploratory correlation analysis revealed associations between right inferior frontal gyrus activation and sound localization scores at 3 months after treatment with cochlear implant (r = -0.59, p = 0.026). Speech-derived vibrotactile stimulation was associated with activation of auditory and cognitive control networks in individuals with SSD, including the bilateral middle cingulate cortex. This pattern may indicate increased attentional demands when processing temporally complex vibrotactile signals. While the present findings are correlational and exploratory, they provide a basis for future studies investigating neuronal plasticity following hearing loss.
Dynamic Functional Connectivity Changes in Parkinson's Disease With and Without Depression.
Lin Y, Tang Y, Tan C … +10 more , Wang C, Liu Q, Shen Q, Cai S, Huang C, Niu Y, Deng S, Qiu Z, Zheng Z, Liao H
Eur J Neurosci · 2026 May · PMID 42163705 · Publisher ↗
Depression is a common non-motor symptom in Parkinson's disease (PD), considered a disorder involving dysfunction across multiple neural networks. Previous resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) st...
Depression is a common non-motor symptom in Parkinson's disease (PD), considered a disorder involving dysfunction across multiple neural networks. Previous resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) studies of PD with depression (dPD) have overlooked crucial dynamic characteristics of brain networks. This study investigated dynamic functional connectivity (DFC) patterns in dPD. By collecting resting-state fMRI data from 50 dPD subjects, 82 ndPD subjects and 50 healthy controls (HC), we employed independent component analysis, sliding time windows and k-means clustering to identify DFC states. Intergroup comparisons and clinical correlation analyses revealed four recurrent states. Specifically, in State II, the fractional window and average dwell time progressively increased across the dPD, ndPD and HC groups, whereas in State III, the fractional window progressively decreased across the three groups. State II connectivity featured strong positive connections both within and between all networks. State III connectivity primarily exhibited strong negative connections between the ECN and SN/DMN networks, and between SN and DMN networks, whereas the ECN network internally, and between the SN and SMN/SMA networks, exhibited strong positive connections. The occurrence frequency and average dwell time of State II both showed a negative correlation with HAMD-17 scores. These findings suggest that a higher proportion of patients with dPD exhibit a state of relatively sparse connectivity, alongside abnormal network connectivity changes across the four states, providing new insights into the neuroimaging mechanisms of dPD.
Elucidating the Role of Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptor Signalling in Efferent-Mediated Responses of Mammalian Vestibular Afferents.
Sinha AK, Lee C, Holt JC
Eur J Neurosci · 2026 May · PMID 42152496 · Publisher ↗
The peripheral vestibular system detects head position and movement through activation of hair cells (HCs) in vestibular end organs. HCs transmit this information to the CNS via primary vestibular afferents. The CNS, in...
The peripheral vestibular system detects head position and movement through activation of hair cells (HCs) in vestibular end organs. HCs transmit this information to the CNS via primary vestibular afferents. The CNS, in turn, modulates HCs and afferents via the efferent vestibular system (EVS) through activation of cholinergic signalling mechanisms. In mice, we previously demonstrated that activation of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs), during EVS stimulation, gives rise to a slow excitation of afferent firing that takes seconds to peak and tens of seconds to return to prestimulus values. This slow excitation is mimicked by muscarine and ablated by nonselective mAChR blockers. Although five distinct mAChRs (M1-M5) exist, the subtype(s) driving EVS-mediated slow excitation remain unidentified, and details on how these mAChRs might alter vestibular function are poorly understood. We combined single-unit vestibular afferent recordings, EVS stimulation and mAChR pharmacology in C57Bl/6 J and transgenic mice to characterize which mAChR subtypes drive EVS-mediated slow excitation and explore how their activation impacts vestibular physiology and behaviour. M3mAChR antagonists were more potent at blocking slow excitation than M1mAChR antagonists, whereas M2/M4/M5-selective drugs were ineffective. Additionally, EVS-mediated slow excitation in M3mAChR-KO animals was significantly reduced in irregular afferents but preserved in regular afferents. Furthermore, vestibular sensory-evoked potentials, primarily generated by irregular afferents, were significantly less enhanced by mAChR activation in M3mAChR-KO mice as compared to controls. Finally, M3mAChR-KO mice displayed distinct behavioural phenotypes in open-field activity, thermal profiles, balance beam and forced swim test suggesting M3mAChRs in the peripheral vestibular system may play a role.
Correction to "Reverse Hierarchical Processing of Speech in Talker Identification".
Eur J Neurosci · 2026 May · PMID 42145226 · Publisher ↗
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Conscious Tactile Perception Depends on Early Processing in Primary Somatosensory Cortex.
Gwynne L, Tamè L
Eur J Neurosci · 2026 May · PMID 42141758 · Full text
The primary somatosensory cortex (S1) has long been implicated in tactile perception, yet its precise role in conscious tactile detection remains uncertain. The current study investigated the causal and time-specific inv...
The primary somatosensory cortex (S1) has long been implicated in tactile perception, yet its precise role in conscious tactile detection remains uncertain. The current study investigated the causal and time-specific involvement of S1 in tactile detection using single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (spTMS). In two experiments, spTMS was applied over contralateral S1, an active control site (inferior parietal lobe; IPL), or under a sham condition at short (25 and 75 ms; Experiment 1) or longer (130 ms; Experiment 2) intervals following electrotactile stimulation of the finger. Participants performed a go/no-go detection task at sensory threshold. In Experiment 1, tactile sensitivity was significantly reduced following early S1 stimulation compared with both active control and sham conditions. In contrast, no such effect was observed at a later timepoint in Experiment 2. Self-reported TMS-related distraction ratings did not account for the observed sensitivity differences, suggesting sensitivity-specific modulation by early TMS rather than general task disruption. Together, these findings support a causal role for early S1 activity in conscious tactile detection. We propose that disruption at this early stage impairs initial encoding of tactile input, thereby attenuating subsequent perceptual awareness. Overall, the results underscore the critical contribution of S1 in conscious tactile detection and are compatible with recent accounts in which conscious tactile perception emerges from processing within a distributed neural network.
Curcumin Alleviates Vascular Cognitive Impairment by Inhibiting Ferroptosis Through Regulating the SIRT1/Nrf2/HO-1 Pathway.
Zhuang L, Xu S, Cheng L … +3 more , Zhao T, Li Y, Liu L
Eur J Neurosci · 2026 May · PMID 42136353 · Publisher ↗
Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) is a cognitive disorder caused by cerebral hypoperfusion due to cerebrovascular diseases, characterized by declines in learning and memory abilities. Iron metabolism imbalance and ferr...
Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) is a cognitive disorder caused by cerebral hypoperfusion due to cerebrovascular diseases, characterized by declines in learning and memory abilities. Iron metabolism imbalance and ferroptosis are critical pathological mechanisms underlying VCI. Curcumin (CURC), a polyphenolic compound derived from turmeric, exhibits neuroprotective effects through anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antiapoptotic pathways. The present study investigated the therapeutic potential of CURC in VCI by exploring its role in inhibiting ferroptosis. In vitro, oxygen glucose deprivation (OGD)-induced injury in HT22 cells was significantly alleviated by CURC treatment, as evidenced by improved cell viability, reduced apoptosis, and decreased oxidative stress markers (ROS, MDA). CURC also attenuated ferroptosis by lowering Fe levels and modulating ferroptosis-related proteins (GPX4 and ACSL4). Mechanistically, CURC activated the SIRT1/Nrf2/HO-1 pathway, which was supported by both pharmacological inhibition and genetic knockdown of SIRT1 in HT22 cells. In vivo, CURC improved cognitive deficits in VCI rats, as shown by reduced neurological deficit scores and enhanced performance in the Morris water maze test. Histological analysis revealed that CURC improved hippocampal neuron structure and increased the number of morphologically intact neurons. CURC also reduced hippocampal Fe levels and regulated ferroptosis-related proteins, effects that were abolished by a SIRT1 inhibitor. Overall, CURC alleviated VCI symptoms in association with attenuated oxidative stress, apoptosis, and ferroptosis, and inhibition of neuronal ferroptosis through the SIRT1/Nrf2/HO-1 pathway may represent an important mechanism underlying its neuroprotective effects, providing a potential therapeutic strategy for clinical VCI treatments.
Functional Dissociation of Mismatch Negativity From Late Discriminative Negativity Across the Adult Lifespan.
Chow R, Bugos JA, Alain C … +1 more , Rosenbaum RS
Eur J Neurosci · 2026 May · PMID 42132432 · Full text
The mismatch negativity (MMN) is elicited by infrequent acoustic changes (such as pitch, frequency, and duration of tones) and by violations of higher-order, abstract auditory patterns. In these latter cases, the MMN can...
The mismatch negativity (MMN) is elicited by infrequent acoustic changes (such as pitch, frequency, and duration of tones) and by violations of higher-order, abstract auditory patterns. In these latter cases, the MMN can be accompanied by a lesser-known event-related potential termed the late discriminative negativity (LDN). To date, examination of the LDN has been primarily centered on childhood development; whether the LDN is reliably elicited across the adult lifespan and how its functional significance differs from the MMN remain unclear. This study examined the MMN and LDN recorded from 92 adults (18-86 years, 47 females) elicited by changes in pitch contour within short (500 ms) five-tone sequences. Subsequent incidental memory for the standard and deviant tone sequences was tested against similar lures and dissimilar foils. Data-driven analyses showed that the LDN was reliably visible from young to older adulthood and remained stable through adulthood, in contrast to age-related declines in MMN. Furthermore, MMN amplitude was robustly associated with age and subsequent memory performance, whereas LDN amplitude showed weak and inconsistent associations with age and hearing acuity. Results extend prior developmental work by revealing a reliable LDN throughout adulthood and are consistent with the LDN as a marker of prediction error for higher-order, gestalt properties of auditory perception. Taken together, the MMN and LDN are both generated by discrepancies between incoming sensory input and predicted regularities but are temporally distinct and show differential associations with age and memory performance, suggesting a functional dissociation between early and late indices of oddball detection.
Frequency-Dependent Effects of Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation on Cerebro-Cerebellar Connectivity and Sensorimotor Performance.
Suzuki M, Tanaka S, Inoue T … +7 more , Saito K, Takeda H, Takaoka Y, Matsumoto T, Suzuki T, Nishikawa J, Hirata A
Eur J Neurosci · 2026 May · PMID 42125879 · Publisher ↗
The cerebellum is critical for sensorimotor performance, and transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is a promising modulatory tool. To address the unclear frequency-specific effects of tACS on the cerebro-ce...
The cerebellum is critical for sensorimotor performance, and transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is a promising modulatory tool. To address the unclear frequency-specific effects of tACS on the cerebro-cerebellar network and sensorimotor performance, this study investigated how low- and high-frequency stimulation differentially modulate effective connectivity and sensorimotor performance. In this single-blind, sham-controlled, within-participant study, we first used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based computational modeling to determine the optimal current intensity for a fixed F6-O2 cerebellar montage for each of the 22 participants. Then, participants completed three experimental sessions, receiving 20 min of 10 Hz, 70 Hz, or sham tACS at this optimized intensity. We assessed the after-effects on cerebro-cerebellar effective connectivity based on electroencephalogram (EEG) and performance on a sensorimotor performance task. The computational modeling indicated that a 2.0-mA current was optimal for the F6-O2 montage to target the cerebellum. The subsequent human experiments revealed opposing, frequency-specific effects on connectivity: 10-Hz stimulation broadly induced increases (Cohen's d = 0.19 to 0.33), whereas 70-Hz stimulation predominantly induced decreases (Cohen's d = -0.10 to -0.29). Despite these opposite neural effects, both frequencies similarly improved sensorimotor performance by reducing errors compared to sham (Cohen's d = -0.16 to -0.26). Our findings demonstrate that while low- and high-frequency cerebellar tACS exert opposite effects on network connectivity, both can similarly enhance sensorimotor performance. This suggests that distinct neural pathways can be engaged to support improvements in motor learning.
Neural Oscillations Track Subjective and Pupillary Arousal During Naturalistic Movie Viewing.
Camenzind M, Nanni-Zepeda M, Giron AP … +4 more , Dapper K, Esterman M, Frohlich F, Zuberer A
Eur J Neurosci · 2026 May · PMID 42117513 · Full text
Movies evoke dynamic emotional experiences that fluctuate moment-to-moment. While fMRI has mapped these fluctuations, the real-time continuous oscillatory dynamics underlying naturalistic viewing remain less understood....
Movies evoke dynamic emotional experiences that fluctuate moment-to-moment. While fMRI has mapped these fluctuations, the real-time continuous oscillatory dynamics underlying naturalistic viewing remain less understood. In this study, 25 adults watched an emotionally rich short film while EEG, continuous subjective arousal annotations and pupil diameter were recorded. Inter-subject correlation (ISC) analyses revealed robust synchronization in behavioural and pupillary arousal across the cohort. Leveraging these shared, group-level arousal trajectories to probe individual-level cortical processing, we mapped the neural networks correlating with these two arousal signals. Both pupillary and subjective arousal negatively correlated with low-frequency power in occipitoparietal regions, reflecting bottom-up sensory gain control and attentional gating. Furthermore, high-arousal epochs were marked by low-frequency desynchronization in the precuneus; this cortical activation likely indexes the rapid retrieval of episodic memories required to update the viewer's situational model during plot shifts. Finally, while both measures tracked low-frequency acoustic features in the auditory cortex, subjective arousal was more prominently associated with extended top-down semantic networks and central theta activity. These findings highlight that while pupillary arousal heavily reflects bottom-up sensory intensity, subjective reporting captures active cognitive integration. Together, this demonstrates how emotional arousal acts as a dynamic control signal, orchestrating a complex interplay of sensory gating, memory updating and top-down evaluation to make sense of the unfolding narrative.
Comparison Effects of Anodal Versus Cathodal Trans-Cranial Direct Current Stimulation Over Primary Motor Cortex on Lower Limb Muscles' Spasticity: A Randomized Clinical Trial Study.
Bazghandi R, Delkhosh CT, Mahmoodi S … +4 more , Kermani M, Jaberzadeh S, Mortezanejad M, Ehsani F
Eur J Neurosci · 2026 May · PMID 42117320 · Publisher ↗
Spasticity often results from maladaptive neuroplastic changes in both the affected and nonaffected primary motor cortex (M1) that are accompanied by downstream effects on descending motor pathways. The aim of this study...
Spasticity often results from maladaptive neuroplastic changes in both the affected and nonaffected primary motor cortex (M1) that are accompanied by downstream effects on descending motor pathways. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (a-tDCS) over the affected M1 and cathodal tDCS (c-tDCS) over the unaffected M1 in patients with stroke. Thirty-nine patients were divided into the following three groups with a block randomization method: (1) affected M1 a-tDCS, (2) unaffected M1 c-tDCS, and (3) sham tDCS. Additionally, all groups received routine physiotherapy (PT). Electromyographic activity of the lateral gastrocnemius (LG) and tibialis anterior (TA) muscles during passive and active dorsiflexion/plantarflexion (DF/PF), as well as the modified Ashworth scale (MAS) and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQOL), were assessed before, immediately, and 2 weeks after the interventions. The results indicated that TA activity during active DF increased immediately following the intervention in the affected M1 a-tDCS group compared to the other groups (p < 0.001). LG activity during both active and passive DF decreased, MAS and WHOQOL scores increased immediately and 2 weeks after the intervention in the a-tDCS group (p < 0.001). These findings highlight the immediate and short-term efficacies of affected M1 a-tDCS combined with PT in improving muscle spasticity and function, QOL in these patients. Trial Registration: IRCT20230104057044N1.
Neural Tracking of Sustained Attention, Attention Switching, and Natural Conversation in Audiovisual Environments Using Wearable EEG.
Wilroth J, Keding O, Skoglund MA … +3 more , Sandsten M, Enqvist M, Alickovic E
Eur J Neurosci · 2026 May · PMID 42104679 · Full text
Everyday communication is dynamic and multisensory, often involving shifting attention, overlapping speech, and visual cues. Yet, most neural attention tracking studies are still limited to highly controlled lab settings...
Everyday communication is dynamic and multisensory, often involving shifting attention, overlapping speech, and visual cues. Yet, most neural attention tracking studies are still limited to highly controlled lab settings, using clean, often audio-only stimuli and requiring sustained attention to a single talker. This work addresses that gap by introducing a novel dataset from 24 normal-hearing participants. We used a wearable electroencephalography (EEG) system (44 scalp electrodes and 20 cEEGrid electrodes) in an audiovisual (AV) paradigm with three conditions: sustained attention to a single talker in a two-talker environment, attention switching between two talkers, and unscripted two-talker conversations with a competing single talker. Analysis included temporal response functions (TRFs) modeling, optimal lag analysis, selective attention classification with decision windows ranging from 1.1 to 35 s, and comparisons of TRFs for attention to AV conversations versus side audio-only talkers. Key findings show significant differences in the attention-related P2 peak between attended and ignored speech across conditions for scalp EEG. Interestingly, our results revealed strong cross-condition generalization, with models trained in one condition maintaining good performance when evaluated on the other two. No significant change in performance between switching and sustained attention suggests robustness for attention switches. Optimal lag analysis revealed a narrower peak for conversation compared to single-talker AV stimuli, reflecting the additional complexity of multi-talker processing. Classification of selective attention was consistently above chance (55%-70% accuracy) for scalp EEG, whereas cEEGrid data yielded lower correlations, highlighting the need for further methodological improvements. These results demonstrate that wearable EEG can reliably track selective attention in dynamic, multisensory listening scenarios and provide guidance for designing future AV paradigms and real-world attention tracking applications.
Multiscale Approximations to Understand the Complex Role of Microglia in Alzheimer's Disease.
Martínez-Tazo P, Mejias-Ortega M, López-López V … +7 more , Bhojwani-Cabrera AM, Saxton E, Canals S, Hardingham G, Gutierrez A, Lopez-Atalaya JP, De Santis S
Eur J Neurosci · 2026 May · PMID 42104633 · Full text
Microglia, the resident innate immune cells of the central nervous system, play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Microglia are now recognized as a highly dynamic and heterogeneous populatio...
Microglia, the resident innate immune cells of the central nervous system, play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Microglia are now recognized as a highly dynamic and heterogeneous population whose molecular and functional states vary with spatial context, disease stage, and genetic background. Recent discoveries across multiple scales from genetics, molecular and cellular biology, to systems-level imaging and epidemiology have underscored the complex and context-dependent contributions of microglia to the AD cascade. Together, these findings highlight the need for integrative, multiscale approaches that bridge molecular, cellular, and systemic perspectives to elucidate the diverse roles of microglia and their impact on disease progression. This mini-review discusses recent advances in understanding microglial biology across these dimensions and outlines current challenges toward achieving a more unified and therapeutically oriented framework for studying microglia in AD.
Oxytocin Neuron-Specific CAPS2 Deficiency in Mice Impairs Hippocampal Plasticity and Long-Term Memory Through Reduced ERK Phosphorylation in the Ventral hippocampus.
Nagano W, Takahashi J, Yamauchi T … +4 more , Yamada D, Sano Y, Furuichi T, Saitoh A
Eur J Neurosci · 2026 May · PMID 42103483 · Full text
Oxytocin (OXT), a neuropeptide produced in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus, regulates social behaviour, stress responses, and memory. Our previous studies demonstrated that intracerebroventricular a...
Oxytocin (OXT), a neuropeptide produced in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus, regulates social behaviour, stress responses, and memory. Our previous studies demonstrated that intracerebroventricular administration of OXT ameliorates amyloid-β-induced cognitive deficits and that selective activation of PVN OXT neurons enhances memory performance. These findings suggest that endogenous OXT secretion is essential for normal memory processing and that its impairment may lead to cognitive dysfunction. To test this hypothesis, we generated oxytocin neuron-specific conditional knockout (cKO) mice for the Ca-dependent activator protein for secretion 2 (CAPS2) by crossing Caps2-floxed mice with oxytocin-iCre mice. In these mice, OXT exocytosis was selectively impaired in OXT neurons. Behavioural analyses revealed that Caps2 cKO mice exhibited deficits in long-term memory in the novel object recognition test (NORT) and passive avoidance tests, whereas short-term spatial memory assessed by the Y-maze test remained unaffected. Electrophysiological recordings further showed that hippocampal long-term potentiation was markedly attenuated in Caps2 cKO mice. Consistently, phosphorylated ERK levels in the ventral hippocampus were significantly reduced following the NORT. These findings demonstrate that CAPS2-dependent OXT release is critical for long-term memory formation and hippocampal synaptic plasticity. Our results provide new insight into the physiological role of endogenous OXT signalling in cognitive function and suggest its potential relevance to the pathogenesis of memory disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.
The Impacts of Pregnancy on Cognition and Cell Proliferation in a Live-Bearing Fish (Poeciliopsis gracilis).
Ernst TR, Keijzer A, Vellere S … +5 more , Lee A, van Leeuwen JL, Kotrschal A, Korosi A, Pollux BJA
Eur J Neurosci · 2026 May · PMID 42103462 · Full text
Pregnancy is a high-energy process which temporarily decreases cognitive function and affects the neurogenic capacity of the maternal brain. Pregnant females exhibit decreased performance in spatial memory tasks which ha...
Pregnancy is a high-energy process which temporarily decreases cognitive function and affects the neurogenic capacity of the maternal brain. Pregnant females exhibit decreased performance in spatial memory tasks which has been linked to altered neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. While these processes are well-resolved for mammals, whether they are conserved across other, nonmammalian, live-bearing animal lineages without placentation remains enigmatic. Here, we test the relationship between pregnancy and cognition in the live-bearing fish Poecilipsis gracilis. Female P. gracilis are almost continuously pregnant after sexual maturation meaning that any cognitive deficits due to pregnancy may be constant throughout adulthood. To determine the consequences of this continuous pregnancy on maternal cognition, we compared the performance of pregnant and virgin females in two ecologically relevant cognitive assays, a spatial memory task and a reversal learning task. To further assess pregnancy-induced changes in brain plasticity, the brains of each female were then assessed using immunohistochemical staining for the neurogenic proliferation marker ki67. We found that pregnant females showed a decline in spatial learning performance, exhibiting more non-choice trials. Although pregnant females did not exhibit decreased cell proliferation in the hippocampal-analogous region of the brain, they did show decreased proliferation in the olfactory bulb and ventral telencephalon. Our results indicate that, just like in mammals, pregnancy in fish impacts female cognitive capacity and cell proliferation, even though those poeciliid fishes do not have a placenta.
The Neural Correlates of Numerical Symbol Processing During Symbol-and-Numerosity Paired Learning.
Qi S, Li M, Cui Z … +5 more , Lu Y, Wang L, Li T, Zhou H, Zhou X
Eur J Neurosci · 2026 May · PMID 42101019 · Publisher ↗
Numerical symbol processing develops dynamically from initial learning to proficiency, yet the neural mechanisms underlying this progression remain poorly understood. This study employed an artificial symbol learning par...
Numerical symbol processing develops dynamically from initial learning to proficiency, yet the neural mechanisms underlying this progression remain poorly understood. This study employed an artificial symbol learning paradigm to capture neural responses at different proficiency levels of numerical processing and further explored how these responses relate to task-specific behavioral performance and overall math achievement. Forty-eight adults participated in the artificial symbol learning paradigm, during which event-related potential (ERP) data were recorded. Subsequently, they completed a behavioral math achievement test. A trial-based ERP-behavior correlation approach was used to enhance statistical power. The results showed significant correlations between the N1 and P2 components at occipitoparietal electrodes and reaction time in the numerical comparison task. Additionally, significant correlations were found between the N1 and P2 components and math achievement scores across all sessions. More importantly, the association between the occipital P2 component and reaction time in the comparison task increased across sessions, while the association between the parietal P2 component and math achievement scores decreased. These patterns were not observed in ERP amplitudes. The findings suggest that the P2 component, rather than the N1, serves as a key neural marker for the development of numerical symbol processing. They also highlight the critical role of brain-behavior correlations in elucidating this developmental process.
Grafts of Embryonic A9 Dopamine Neurons in a Rat Organotypic Culture Model of Parkinson's Disease Indicates the Potential and Limits of Nigro-Striatal Circuitry Reformation.
Caruana DA, Goodman T, Gates MA
Eur J Neurosci · 2026 May · PMID 42095267 · Publisher ↗
Primary dopaminergic cell transplantation is a potential therapeutic strategy for Parkinson's disease. However, the procedure commonly involves placing donor neurons heterotopically into the host striatum. To gain insigh...
Primary dopaminergic cell transplantation is a potential therapeutic strategy for Parkinson's disease. However, the procedure commonly involves placing donor neurons heterotopically into the host striatum. To gain insights into the potential to reform circuitry between the substantia nigra and striatum, a sagittal explant system, including the striatum, medial forebrain bundle (MFB) and ventral mesencephalon (VM), was generated from postnatal rats. This ex vivo system provided a platform to test the potential for heterotopic or homotopic grafts of whole embryonic day 14 (E14) rat VM or sub-dissected regions of the A9 or A10 cell groups to reform midbrain dopaminergic circuitry. Results showed that homotopically placed whole VM tissue and sub-dissected A10 donor tissue were able to extend tyrosine hydroxylase+ (TH+) projections along the full rostro-caudal extent of the MFB. However, homotopically grafted A9 dopamine neurons showed little capacity to extend TH+ neurites beyond the graft region. In addition, heterotopic placement of A9 tissue adjacent to the host striatum revealed selective infiltration of TH+ projections into the dorsal striatum, where they displayed functional electrophysiological responses in host striatal neurons. This was in opposition to A10 heterotopic grafts, where TH+ projections were more random with no evidence of synaptic coupling in the host. Such results illustrate the fundamental utility of this system for exploring dopaminergic circuitry reconstruction ex vivo and indicate that the reformation of nigrostriatal circuitry may be limited for the A9 group in isolation, but that the A10 neurons can project along the full extent of the MFB.
Correction to "Transitional Photoperiod Induces a Mania-Like Behavior in Male Mice".
Eur J Neurosci · 2026 May · PMID 42092298 · Publisher ↗
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