Neuroscience
Prenatal Testosterone and the Biological Basis of Sexual Orientation
Sexual orientation, specifically gay men and women, is significantly influenced by prenatal testosterone exposure, with distinct biological markers observed in finger length ratios. The "fraternal birth order effect" suggests that the likelihood of a male being gay increases with each older brother,…
Horizon Views Impact Brain-Body State and Time Perception
Horizon views induce a calming brain-body state and alter time perception. This phenomenon is influenced by the initial exposure to such views. These effects were discussed in a recent podcast.
Retinal Neural Networks Exhibit Criticality Signatures in Thermodynamic-Like Analysis
Neural activity patterns in up to 160 retinal neurons responding to naturalistic movies reveal a tradeoff between pattern probability (sparsity-driven) and numerosity, analogous to entropy-energy relations in statistical physics. Direct and model-based analyses show a thermodynamic limit as N increa…
Physical Limits Dictate Scalability of Neural Recording Modalities for Whole-Brain Activity Mapping
Current neuroscience techniques cannot achieve millisecond-resolution recording of all neurons in a mammalian brain, necessitating analysis of fundamental physical constraints. The paper evaluates optical, electrical, magnetic resonance, and molecular recording methods for the mouse brain, focusing …
K-Pairwise Maximum Entropy Models Capture Strong Collective Synchrony in Retinal Neuron Networks
Maximum entropy models, extended to K-pairwise formulations, accurately describe correlated spiking in up to 120 salamander retinal neurons responding to natural movies. Pairwise interactions alone fail for groups beyond 40 neurons, necessitating a global synchrony-controlling term. These models rev…