With some trepidation, I'm putting this out into the world:
gershmanlab.com/textbook.html
It's a textbook called Computational Foundations of Cognitive Neuroscience, which I wrote for my class.
My hope is that this will be a living document, continuously improved as I get feedback.
The Sosa Lab is going to #SfN25 and actively recruiting β¨postdocsβ¨ with systems neuroscience experience! We study both fundamental memory processes and how memory changes during pregnancy and postpartum.
If you are interested in meeting at SfN, please email me! www.sosaneurolab.com/join/postdoc...
Yayyyy!!!
A niche and somewhat personal question but itβs desperate times over here - has anyone been pregnant (or know someone who has been pregnant) and done animal surgeries with iso? If so, how (what precautions were taken)? DMs open!
(Pregnant with my second π³ So will also take 2 under 2 advice π
)
Wrote a eulogy for the yellow letters in my office window. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Also, check out this cool write-up in Harvard Gazette on this work!
news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...
BIG shout-out to my co-first author Jesse Marshall, who got the ball rolling and collected tons of data, to my labmates who helped me keep the ball rolling, especially when the birth of my kid coincided with experiments, and to my mentor @olveczky.bsky.social, without whom none of this would exist!
Another question β what *exactly* triggers this change in the neural code? Does it happen quickly, at the start of a new context that requires learning, or does it emerge slowly as a new skill develops? TBD, but with any luck we will have a better idea soon ο
There are lots of interesting questions and ideas that come from this. For one, what the heck is DLS activity doing during free exploration?! Why is it so locked to motor output if itβs not required for it? Weβre thinking about this now, but lmk if you have any ideas!
But then, we compared mapping from neural activity to movement β and saw a big difference!
π€©
While neurons in both cases represented ongoing movement, they did so in radically different ways.
What could explain this change in function? We next turned to neural activity, recording from DLS neurons from animals in both contexts.
Maybe neurons were more active in the task, or activity was more locked to behavior?
At first, we saw a whole lotta nothing that screamed βbig differenceβ.
π€¨
But even with the latest and greatest tracking and behavioral quantification, we couldnβt find effects of lesioning DLS πΆβπ«οΈ. This is a big contrast to the huge effect in the task. This suggests DLS is not an essential part of the motor control machinery, but specializing in shaping learned behaviors.
We first examined DLS function by taking it away (via lesion).
We already know DLS impacts learned movements β but what about innate ones?
Prior work has implicated DLS, but to know for sure, we needed to track these behaviors in detail. And thanks to advances in tracking, this is now easy-peasy!
To examine this, we considered two behavioral contexts on each end of the learning spectrum:
(1) free exploration, where a rat goes about their business expressing innate behaviors like rearing
(2) task execution, where the rat expresses a sequence of arm movements it learned to solve a lever task
But⦠is this just because rats *always* need their DLS for motor output, learned or otherwise?
... or ...
Does it play a special role for *learned* movements, only becoming involved when a movement is tailored to a task?
Basically β does DLS function change with learning?
We focused on changes within the sensorimotor striatum β also called dorsolateral striatum (DLS) in rats β which is a big input region in the basal ganglia.
We know DLS is required for learned skills: if a rat learns a new motor skill and then you mess with DLS, they can no longer execute it.
Excited to announce that my first postdoc paper is now online!
Links:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
rdcu.be/eAcN7
In it, we examine the perennial question: what changes in the brain when learning a new motor skill?
Read more below to find out π
Another question β what *exactly* triggers this change in the neural code? Does it happen quickly, at the start of a new context that requires learning, or does it emerge slowly as a new skill develops? TBD, but with any luck we will have a better idea soon :)
There are lots of interesting questions and ideas that come from this. For one, what the heck is DLS activity doing during free exploration?! Why is it so locked to motor output if itβs not required for it? Weβre thinking about this now, but lmk if you have any ideas!
But then, we compared mapping from neural activity to movement β and saw a big difference!
π€©
While neurons in both cases represented ongoing movement, they did so in radically different ways.
What could explain this change in function? We next turned to neural activity, recording from DLS neurons from rats in both contexts.
Maybe neurons were more active in the task, or activity was more locked to behavior?
At first, we saw a whole lotta nothing that screamed βbig differenceβ.
π€¨
But even with the latest and greatest tracking and behavioral quantification, we couldnβt find effects of lesioning DLS πΆβπ«οΈ. This is a big contrast to the huge effect in the task. This suggests DLS is not an essential part of the motor control machinery, but specializing in shaping learned behaviors.
We first examined DLS function by taking it away (via lesion).
We already know DLS impacts learned movements β but what about innate ones?
Prior work has implicated DLS, but to know for sure, we needed to track these behaviors in detail. And thanks to advances in tracking, this is now easy-peasy!
We considered two behavioral contexts on each end of the learning spectrum:
(1) free exploration, where a rat goes about their business expressing innate behaviors like rearing and grooming
(2) task execution, where the rat expresses a sequence of arm movements it learned to solve a lever task
But⦠is this just because rats *always* need their DLS for motor output, learned or otherwise?
... or ...
Does it play a special role for *learned* movements, only becoming involved when a movement is tailored to a task?
Basically β does DLS function change with learning?
We focused on changes within the sensorimotor striatum β also called dorsolateral striatum (DLS) in rats β which is a big input region in the basal ganglia.
We know DLS is required for learned skills: if a rat learns a new motor skill and then you mess with DLS, they can no longer execute it
A little timeline cleanse for you β A rat party π with beautifully tracked behavior π
Excited to present the latest from the lab out today in Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex.... See Thread! 1/8
π¨: SNAAP Mock Interviews Office Hours are now OPEN! π
Our office hours consist of mock interviews and advice sessions for those currently applying/interviewing for Neuroscience PhD programs (including Stanford)!
Sign-up for a slot using our Calendly (link in bio)!
#neuroscience #PhDSky
Happy head direction cell day yβall!
On this day, 41 years ago, Jim Ranck recorded the first βHD cellβ in his Brooklyn lab in 1984.
Jim shared the news with the world at SFN that year, showing a video of the cellβs firing on a TV he somehow acquired and brought to his posterβ¦ (1/3)
