🧠 Category

neuroscience

1795 papers

Neuroscience explores the intricate machinery of the brain and nervous system, seeking to understand how we think, feel, and move. From the microscopic dance of individual neurons to the complex networks that shape our memories and behaviors, this field peels back the layers of our biological selves to reveal the origins of consciousness and disease.

At Gist.Science, we bring these discoveries directly from bioRxiv, the leading preprint server for biological sciences, to a broader audience. We process every new neuroscience preprint as it is uploaded, transforming dense academic manuscripts into clear, plain-language explanations alongside detailed technical summaries. This ensures that both curious readers and specialists can stay current with the latest breakthroughs before they are formally published.

Below are the latest neuroscience papers we have processed from bioRxiv, offering fresh insights into the workings of the mind.

🧠 neuroscience

Statistical Learning in a Stressful Environment: Autonomic Nervous System Reactivity Shapes Learning Probabilistic Patterns from Speech Streams

This study demonstrates that individual differences in autonomic nervous system reactivity, specifically the congruence of sympathetic and parasympathetic responses, significantly modulate the ability to learn probabilistic patterns from speech streams under stressful conditions, with sympathetic activity aiding encoding and parasympathetic activity supporting consolidation.

Sholihat, A., Halonen, R., Mottonen, R., Pesonen, A.-K.2026-05-15
🧠 neuroscience

Granger Sensori-Behavioral Taxonomy of Neuronal Ensemble Activity from Two-Photon Calcium Imaging Data

This paper introduces a unified statistical framework called G-taxonomy, which integrates state-space modeling and variational inference to simultaneously extract Granger causal interactions among sensory stimuli, neuronal ensembles, and behavior from noisy two-photon calcium imaging data, revealing distinct neuronal groups and connectivity patterns associated with correct versus incorrect behavioral outcomes in the mouse auditory cortex.

Khosravi, S., Francis, N. A., Kanold, P. O., Babadi, B.2026-05-15
🧠 neuroscience

A paradoxical relationship between mitochondrial calcium regulation and retinal ganglion cell degeneration after axon damage

This study reveals a paradoxical relationship in retinal ganglion cell degeneration where, although surviving cells naturally maintain higher homeostatic mitochondrial calcium levels, experimentally reducing these levels or blocking calcium entry via the mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU) unexpectedly enhances neuronal survival following axon injury.

McCracken, S., Zhao, M., Squirrell, K. J., Zhao, C., Behboudi Tanourlouee, S., Aum, M., Williams, P. R.2026-05-15
🧠 neuroscience

Developmental delay in attaining adult levels of motor excitability in children and adolescents with Tourette syndrome: a mega-analysis study

This mega-analysis reveals that children and adolescents with Tourette syndrome exhibit a significant developmental delay in reaching adult levels of cortical motor excitability compared to neurotypical controls, a difference that resolves by adulthood and suggests a lag in the maturation of functional brain networks rather than a permanent deficit.

Jackson, S. R., Brandt, V., Conelea, C. A., Black, K. J., Gilbert, D. R., Piacentini, J., Rothwell, J., Worbe, Y., Dyke (…)2026-05-15
🧠 neuroscience

Expansion Revealing of Pathology Resolves Nanostructures Associated with Inflammatory Phenotypes in COVID-19 Decedent Human Brain Tissue

This study introduces adapted expansion microscopy protocols (ExRPath and 15ExMPath) compatible with human pathology specimens to achieve high-resolution imaging of COVID-19 decedent brain tissue, revealing periodic amyloid nanoclusters co-localized with SARS-CoV-2 that suggest a novel neuroinflammatory disease mechanism.

Stanton, A. E., Kang, J., Blanchard, J. W., Boix, C. A., Schroeder, M. E., Lee, Y., Su, H., Wang, S., Yu, E., Emenari, A (…)2026-05-15
🧠 neuroscience

A repressive regulatory cascade shapes temporal patterning of activity-regulated gene expression in a defined sensory neuron type

This study reveals that in *C. elegans* AFD thermosensory neurons, a repressive regulatory cascade involving the RCAN-1 calcineurin regulator and MEF-2 transcription factor, alongside the CRH-1/CREB pathway, precisely shapes the temporal dynamics of activity-regulated gene expression in response to temperature changes.

Bates, S. G., Harris, N., Sengupta, P.2026-05-15
🧠 neuroscience

MM-ComBat and MM-CovBat: Multivariate Frameworks for Joint Harmonization of Multi-Metric Neuroimaging Data

This paper introduces MM-ComBat and MM-CovBat, multivariate frameworks that jointly harmonize multi-metric neuroimaging data by leveraging cross-metric dependencies and correcting both mean and covariance batch effects, thereby outperforming traditional single-metric methods in preserving biological structure and recovering true correlations.

Ren, Z., Sadil, P., Lindquist, M.2026-05-14
🧠 neuroscience

Ultrasound-mediated focal serotonin delivery causally modulates motivation in primates

This study demonstrates that ultrasound-mediated focal delivery of serotonin to the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex in awake macaques causally reduces motivation by weakening the energizing influence of rich reward environments, thereby establishing a translatable method for precise neuropharmacological manipulation.

Winiarski, S., Ty Ngo, M., Reith, W., Habart, M., Schuffelgen, U., Tachrount, M., Clarke, W. T., Watts, W. W., Whitcomb (…)2026-05-14
🧠 neuroscience

An anatomically distinct dopaminergic cell population of the zona incerta as evidence for the human A13 nucleus

This study identifies and characterizes a distinct dopaminergic A13 nucleus within the human zona incerta using histology and MRI, establishing its anatomical boundaries and unique molecular and connectivity profile to provide a foundation for future translational research.

Liu, V. M., Haast, R. A., Andrews, T. S., Inoue, W., Taha, A., Kai, J., Khan, A. R., Lau, J. C.2026-05-14
🧠 neuroscience

Rotating Letters in the Mind's Eye: Behavioral and electro-cortical associations with 3D Mental-Rotation Ability

This study demonstrates that individual differences in 3D mental rotation ability are positively associated with 2D rotation performance and are specifically linked to enhanced recruitment of neural visual-spatial cortical representations, as evidenced by stronger Rotation-Related Negativity (RRN) responses in high-performing individuals.

Khan, R., Bekiari, S., Hierck, B., Salvatori, D., Kenemans, L.2026-05-14