Journal of Neuroscience最新文献

{"title":"Online movements reflect ongoing deliberation.","authors":"Jan A Calalo, Truc T Ngo, Seth R Sullivan, Kathryn Strand, John H Buggeln, Rakshith Lokesh, Adam M Roth, Michael J Carter, Isaac L Kurtzer, Joshua G A Cashaback","doi":"10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1913-24.2025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1913-24.2025","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>From navigating a crowded hallway to skiing down a treacherous hill, humans are constantly making decisions while moving. Insightful past work has provided a glimpse of decision deliberation at the moment of movement onset. Yet it is unknown whether ongoing deliberation can be expressed during movement, following movement onset and prior to any decision. Here we tested the idea that an ongoing deliberation continually influences motor processes-prior to a decision-directing online movements. The deliberation process was manipulated by having humans of either sex observe tokens that moved into a left or right target. Supporting our hypothesis we found that lateral hand movements reflected deliberation, prior to a decision. We also found that a deliberation urgency signal, which more heavily weighs later evidence, was fundamental to predicting decisions and explains past movement behaviour in a new light. Our paradigm promotes the expression of ongoing deliberation through movement, providing a powerful new window to understand the interplay between decision and action.<b>Significance Statement</b> Simultaneously deciding and acting has been critical to our survival and undoubtedly shaped our evolution. Classic decision-making and sensorimotor paradigms do not permit or have obscured the expression of ongoing deliberation via online movement. Here we found that deliberation could be expressed via movement when the motor system was already actively engaged. By considering both urgency and evidence accumulation, often cast as competing theories, we were able to consolidate current and past decision-making and movement behaviour.</p>","PeriodicalId":50114,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144545864","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Age-related Increase in Locus Coeruleus Activity and Connectivity with Prefrontal Cortex during Ambiguity Processing.","authors":"Arjun Dave, Shuer Ye, Leona Rahel Bätz, Xiaqing Lan, Heidi I L Jacobs, Maryam Ziaei","doi":"10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2059-24.2025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2059-24.2025","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Interpreting ambiguous environmental cues, like facial expressions, becomes increasingly challenging with age, especially as cognitive resources decline. Managing these challenges requires adaptive neural mechanisms that are essential for maintaining mental well-being. The locus coeruleus (LC), the brain's main norepinephrine source, regulates attention, arousal, and stress response. With extensive cortical connections, the LC supports adapting to cognitive demands and resolving conflicting cues from environment, particularly in later life. Previous research suggests that LC interacts with the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during high-conflict tasks. However, whether LC activity and its connectivity with the PFC support emotional ambiguity processing and contributes to emotional well-being in healthy aging remains unclear. To address this gap, we used 7T-MRI to examine LC function in 75 younger (25.8 ± 4.02years, 35females) and 69 older adults (71.3 ± 4.1 years, 35females) during facial-emotion-recognition task morphed with varying ambiguity: anchor (unambiguous happy or fearful), intermediate-ambiguity (30%happy-70%fearful and 40%happy-60%fearful expressions), and absolute-ambiguity (50%happy-fearful). Behaviorally, participants had longer response times and lower confidence during the absolute-ambiguity condition, while older adults perceived ambiguous faces as happy more frequently than younger adults. Neuroimaging results revealed older adults exhibited greater LC activity and enhanced connectivity with dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC) during absolute-ambiguity compared to younger adults. This heightened connectivity in older adults was linked to better task-independent self-reported mental well-being questionnaires and greater emotional resilience scores derived from principal component analysis. Overall, these findings suggest that greater LC activity supports managing cognitively demanding tasks, while enhanced LC-dlPFC connectivity promotes emotional well-being, highlighting this neural pathway's role in healthy aging.&lt;b&gt;Significance Statement&lt;/b&gt; Understanding how the brain adapts to cognitive and emotional demands with age is key to promoting healthy aging. This study examined whether the locus coeruleus (LC), a brain region critical for regulating attention and arousal, undergoes adaptive changes with age, especially during emotional ambiguity task. Using ultra-high-field imaging, we explored younger and older adults recognize facial expressions with varying ambiguity levels. Our findings indicated that compared to young, older adults showed heightened LC activity and LC-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) connectivity when processing absolute-ambiguous facial expressions, with enhanced connectivity linked to improved mental well-being. These results suggest higher LC activity supports cognitive demands of ambiguity processing with LC-dlPFC connectivity promoting emotional well-being and resilience, offering insights into mechanisms underly","PeriodicalId":50114,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144530801","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hippocampal LFP responses during pigeon homing flight in outdoors.","authors":"Long Yang, Mengmeng Li, Lifang Yang, Zhenlong Wang, Zhigang Shang","doi":"10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0185-25.2025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0185-25.2025","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The hippocampal formation (HF) plays a key role in avian spatial navigation. Previous studies suggest that the HF may serve different functions at various stages in pigeons' long-distance outdoor homing flight. However, it remains unclear whether the HF exhibits specific neural responses during these stages. In this study, we employed a wearable bimodal data recording system to simultaneously capture flight trajectories and hippocampal local field potential (LFP) signals of pigeons (either sex) during outdoor homing navigation. Our results revealed significant differences in hippocampal neural responses across the initial decision-making (DM) and en route navigation (ER) stages. Specifically, elevated LFP power in theta (4-12 Hz) and beta (12-30 Hz) bands was detected during the DM stage compared to the ER stage, while the high gamma (60-120 Hz) band exhibited the opposite pattern. In addition, we examined typical theta-beta phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) during the ER stage. Additionally, stage-specific hippocampal responses remained consistent across release sites. Notably, the difference in hippocampal responses across stages diminished along with the accumulation of homing experience. These results offer new insights into the role of the avian HF in homing flight navigation and suggest parallels between avian and mammalian hippocampal mechanisms in spatial learning.<b>Significance Statement</b> It remains unclear whether the hippocampal formation (HF) exhibits specific neural responses during various stages in the long-distance outdoor navigation of pigeons. By recording hippocampal local field potentials (LFPs) and positional data during natural outdoor flights, we reveal distinct neural response patterns that differentiate between initial decision-making and sustained navigation stages. We detected band-specific power and coupling responses between different navigation stages, consistent across multiple release sites. Additionally, we found that the LFP responses differences across stages gradually diminish along with the accumulation of the homing experience. Our study offers new insights into the role of the avian HF in outdoor homing flight.</p>","PeriodicalId":50114,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144509207","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Developmental Changes in Brain Cellular Membrane and Energy Metabolism: A Multi-Occasion 31P Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Study.","authors":"Yana Fandakova,Naftali Raz,Ulman Lindenberger,Dalal Khatib,Usha Rajan,Jeffrey A Stanley","doi":"10.1523/jneurosci.2222-24.2025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.2222-24.2025","url":null,"abstract":"Structural neuroimaging studies of typical development reveal increases in grey matter volume during childhood, followed by shrinkage in adolescence and early adulthood. With neuropil constituting the bulk of grey matter, these developmental changes may reflect neuropil reorganization accompanied by alterations in cellular membranes, as well as changes in related energy demand. Phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P MRS) allows in vivo assessment of changes in the brain's high-energy phosphates - phosphocreatine (PCr), inorganic phosphate (Pi), and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) - as well as metabolites associated with synthesis and degradation of membrane phospholipids (MPLs) - phosphocholine (PC) and phosphoethanolamine (PE), and their breakdown products, glycerophosphocholine (GPC) and glycerophosphoethanolamine (GPE). Forty-nine children and adolescents aged 6 to 14 years at baseline (37 boys, 12 girls) were assessed on up to three occasions approximately 12 months apart. MPL precursor levels decreased across all examined regions over time, including cortical and subcortical gray matter and two major white matter tracts. Breakdown products increased in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in younger children but decreased in their older counterparts. While ATP and Pi decreased across most regions, PCr changes were heterochronic and regional: Hippocampal increases were more pronounced in older children, whereas most of the remaining regions showed no change. Changes in MPL precursors were positively associated with change in PFC cortical thickness, suggesting that the expansion and contraction of neuropil are coupled with structural brain changes during childhood and adolescence. Thus, in vivo 31P MRS provides new insights into the neurobiological mechanisms of normal brain development.Significance Statement In childhood and adolescence, structural neuroimaging reveals marked changes in the brain's grey matter, most likely indicating contraction and expansion of its main component - the neuropil. The neurobiological mechanisms of these changes are, however, poorly understood. In the first of its kind longitudinal study of 6- to 14-year-old children, we examined in vivo changes in metabolites associated with brain energetics and the synthesis and degradation of membrane phospholipids using phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy. We identify developmental changes in the metabolites associated with contraction and expansion of the neuropil and their coupling with structural changes in late-to-mature brain regions of the prefrontal cortex, indicating candidate mechanisms of brain development.","PeriodicalId":50114,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Neuroscience","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144504633","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hippocampal LFP responses during pigeon homing flight in outdoors.","authors":"Long Yang,Mengmeng Li,Lifang Yang,Zhenlong Wang,Zhigang Shang","doi":"10.1523/jneurosci.0185-25.2025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.0185-25.2025","url":null,"abstract":"The hippocampal formation (HF) plays a key role in avian spatial navigation. Previous studies suggest that the HF may serve different functions at various stages in pigeons' long-distance outdoor homing flight. However, it remains unclear whether the HF exhibits specific neural responses during these stages. In this study, we employed a wearable bimodal data recording system to simultaneously capture flight trajectories and hippocampal local field potential (LFP) signals of pigeons (either sex) during outdoor homing navigation. Our results revealed significant differences in hippocampal neural responses across the initial decision-making (DM) and en route navigation (ER) stages. Specifically, elevated LFP power in theta (4-12 Hz) and beta (12-30 Hz) bands was detected during the DM stage compared to the ER stage, while the high gamma (60-120 Hz) band exhibited the opposite pattern. In addition, we examined typical theta-beta phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) during the ER stage. Additionally, stage-specific hippocampal responses remained consistent across release sites. Notably, the difference in hippocampal responses across stages diminished along with the accumulation of homing experience. These results offer new insights into the role of the avian HF in homing flight navigation and suggest parallels between avian and mammalian hippocampal mechanisms in spatial learning.Significance Statement It remains unclear whether the hippocampal formation (HF) exhibits specific neural responses during various stages in the long-distance outdoor navigation of pigeons. By recording hippocampal local field potentials (LFPs) and positional data during natural outdoor flights, we reveal distinct neural response patterns that differentiate between initial decision-making and sustained navigation stages. We detected band-specific power and coupling responses between different navigation stages, consistent across multiple release sites. Additionally, we found that the LFP responses differences across stages gradually diminish along with the accumulation of the homing experience. Our study offers new insights into the role of the avian HF in outdoor homing flight.","PeriodicalId":50114,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Neuroscience","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144504635","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Synchronous rhythmic activity in area V4 can impair shape detection and neuronal reliability.","authors":"Rachel Wahlberg, Theoden Netoff, Geoffrey Ghose","doi":"10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0369-25.2025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0369-25.2025","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Rhythms at a population level are a defining characteristic of both normal and pathological cortical activity, but it is unclear howsuch rhythms interactwith activity of specific neurons to impact task performance on a trial-by-trial basis. We address this by employing a challenging visual detection task in which male rhesus macaques must signal the presentation of a shape embedded in a noisy background. We analyzed the rhythmic activity in the local field potential (LFP) and single neuron activity in area V4, a brain area strongly implicated in shape perception, prior to such presentations and focused on two different frequency ranges: alpha/beta (10-30 Hz), in which coherence was particularly strong and spatially extensive, and gamma (50-70 Hz), which has traditionally been strongly associated with single unit activity. We find that within sessions there were periods of time during which successful detection was associated with the absence of rhythmic activity prior to shape presentation in either frequency range. During these periods, rhythmic activity in both frequency bands could predict whether the shape would be detected by the animal at the time of, as well as before, shape presentation on a trial-to-trial basis with high accuracy. Importantly, for both frequency ranges, the individual neurons carrying the most relevant information with regard to the task had the weakest coupling to the LFP rhythms. These results are consistent with spatially-distributed rhythmic activity acting as a source of decision noise in the context of rapid visual detection by reducing the moment-to-moment reliability of task-relevant information carried by individual neurons.<b>Significance Statement</b> Although rhythmic activity in the brain has been studied for over 100 years, its relevance to information processing remains unresolved. In this study we show for the first time that, in the context of a challenging visual detection task, rhythmic activity in local populations of neurons prior to appearance of the visual stimulus can predict mistakes on a trial-by-trial basis. Furthermore, this activity is linked to task-relevant signals at a neuronal level because the individual neurons with the weakest coupling to these rhythms are the most reliable.</p>","PeriodicalId":50114,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144509209","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Synchronous rhythmic activity in area V4 can impair shape detection and neuronal reliability.","authors":"Rachel Wahlberg,Theoden Netoff,Geoffrey Ghose","doi":"10.1523/jneurosci.0369-25.2025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.0369-25.2025","url":null,"abstract":"Rhythms at a population level are a defining characteristic of both normal and pathological cortical activity, but it is unclear howsuch rhythms interactwith activity of specific neurons to impact task performance on a trial-by-trial basis. We address this by employing a challenging visual detection task in which male rhesus macaques must signal the presentation of a shape embedded in a noisy background. We analyzed the rhythmic activity in the local field potential (LFP) and single neuron activity in area V4, a brain area strongly implicated in shape perception, prior to such presentations and focused on two different frequency ranges: alpha/beta (10-30 Hz), in which coherence was particularly strong and spatially extensive, and gamma (50-70 Hz), which has traditionally been strongly associated with single unit activity. We find that within sessions there were periods of time during which successful detection was associated with the absence of rhythmic activity prior to shape presentation in either frequency range. During these periods, rhythmic activity in both frequency bands could predict whether the shape would be detected by the animal at the time of, as well as before, shape presentation on a trial-to-trial basis with high accuracy. Importantly, for both frequency ranges, the individual neurons carrying the most relevant information with regard to the task had the weakest coupling to the LFP rhythms. These results are consistent with spatially-distributed rhythmic activity acting as a source of decision noise in the context of rapid visual detection by reducing the moment-to-moment reliability of task-relevant information carried by individual neurons.Significance Statement Although rhythmic activity in the brain has been studied for over 100 years, its relevance to information processing remains unresolved. In this study we show for the first time that, in the context of a challenging visual detection task, rhythmic activity in local populations of neurons prior to appearance of the visual stimulus can predict mistakes on a trial-by-trial basis. Furthermore, this activity is linked to task-relevant signals at a neuronal level because the individual neurons with the weakest coupling to these rhythms are the most reliable.","PeriodicalId":50114,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Neuroscience","volume":"51 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144504639","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Basal forebrain-ventral tegmental area glutamatergic pathway promotes emergence from isoflurane anesthesia in mice.","authors":"Xia-Ting Gong, Zhang-Shu Li, Zhuo-Li Chen, Xin-Cheng Wu, Ling-Yi Shangguan, Zhi-Peng Xu, Li Chen, Changxi Yu, Ping Cai","doi":"10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0007-25.2025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0007-25.2025","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Recent evidence highlights the importance of glutamatergic neurons in the basal forebrain (BF) in promoting cortical activity; however, whether BF glutamatergic neurons are involved in regulating general anesthesia and the underlying neural circuits remains unclear. Here, the authors show that the activity of BF glutamatergic neurons decreased during the induction of isoflurane anesthesia and restored during the emergence in mice. Optogenetic activation of BF glutamatergic neurons accelerated the emergence from isoflurane anesthesia, decreased isoflurane sensitivity, and increased arousal score of mice. Moreover, optogenetic activation of BF glutamatergic neurons decreased EEG delta power and burst-suppression ratio, while increased pupil size and respiration rate of mice during isoflurane anesthesia. Similar results were observed during the optogenetic activation of BF glutamatergic terminals in the ventral tegmental area (VTA). Additionally, the authors found that the activity of BF glutamatergic neurons and VTA glutamatergic neurons synchronously fluctuate during isoflurane anesthesia, and optogenetic activation of BF glutamatergic terminals in the VTA potently increased the calcium signals of VTA glutamatergic neurons during isoflurane anesthesia. Collectively, their study illustrated that BF glutamatergic neurons promote isoflurane anesthesia emergence via activating VTA glutamatergic neurons. Both male and female mice were used in this study.<b>Statement of Significance</b> General anesthesia is widely used in modern medicine; however, its specific neural mechanisms remain poorly understood. The basal forebrain (BF) is a critical component of the ascending arousal system, and its glutamatergic neurons were implicated in sleep-wake behavior and cortical activity. Here, we report that optogenetic activation of BF glutamatergic neurons significantly promoted cortical activation, behavioral emergence and physiological indicators in mice under isoflurane anesthesia. Photostimulation of BF glutamatergic terminals in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) produced similar effects, and significantly increased the activity of VTA glutamatergic neurons. Our findings illustrated that BF glutamatergic neurons promote emergence from isoflurane anesthesia via VTA glutamatergic neurons, highlighting a potential target for attenuating anesthesia depth and accelerating anesthesia emergence in clinical anesthesia.</p>","PeriodicalId":50114,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144509204","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Erratum: Ostroff et al., \"Combined Active Humoral and Cellular Immunization Approaches for the Treatment of Synucleinopathies\".","authors":"","doi":"10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1144-25.2025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1144-25.2025","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":50114,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144509206","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Pre-microsaccadic modulation in foveal V1: enhancement in the current and future stimulus locations.","authors":"Tomer Bouhnik,Ofir Korch,Hamutal Slovin","doi":"10.1523/jneurosci.2448-24.2025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.2448-24.2025","url":null,"abstract":"Microsaccades are miniature saccades performed during visual fixation that were shown to play a pivotal role in active sensing. Recent studies suggested that pre-microsaccadic attention may underlie the enhanced visual processing at the stimulus site. However, the neuronal mechanism underlying this phenomenon at the foveal scale remains unknown. Using voltage-sensitive dye imaging we investigated the neural responses to uninstructed, spontaneous microsaccades in the fovea of the primary visual cortex (V1) in behaving monkeys (macaque, male). We found that prior to microsaccades onset toward a small visual stimulus, the neuronal activity at the current and future landing stimulus sites was enhanced relative to microsaccades away from the stimulus. This enhancement was spatially confined to the current and future landing stimulus sites, which appeared to merge along the microsaccades ( < 1 deg ) trajectory in V1. Finally, we found a pre-microsaccadic increased synchronization at the current stimulus site. Our findings shed new light on neural modulations preceding microsaccades and suggest a link to neural signatures of attention.Significance statement Microsaccades are miniature eye-movements that occur during visual fixation. Behavioral studies have suggested that pre-microsaccadic attention enhances visual processing in the fovea. However, the underlying neuronal mechanisms at the foveal scale remain unknown. Using voltage-sensitive dye imaging in monkeys, we investigated how microsaccades influence neural activity in the foveal region of the primary visual cortex. Just before a microsaccade toward a small visual stimulus, neural activity was enhanced at both the current and future landing stimulus locations, compared to microsaccades directed away. This enhancement appeared over the microsaccade path and was accompanied by increased synchronization at the current stimulus location. Our findings reveal novel neural modulations preceding microsaccades, and suggest a link between microsaccades and neural signatures of attention.","PeriodicalId":50114,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Neuroscience","volume":"36 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144504634","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}