Our working model for this form of adult cortical plasticity is that repeated, varied visual experience causes a rebalancing of dendrite-targeting inhibition, leading to increased SST interneuron output to excitatory neurons, enhanced surround suppression, and sharpened tuning.
Imaging revealed that SST visual responses increased with visual experience, but VIP interneuron responses were suppressed over the same time period. In turn, excitatory pyramidal neurons showed more surround suppression and increased selectivity for small stimuli.
Individual beta events get much stronger with visual experience, and they organize cortical spiking more strongly. Why is beta interesting? This activity pattern relies on activation of GABAergic interneurons, particularly somatostatin-expressing (SST) cells.
Turns out that exposure to varied, but not single, stimuli over days causes a huge increase in activity in the beta (15-30Hz) range. We see beta plasticity in response to gratings and natural stimuli and it generalizes to stimuli that aren't shown during training.
New preprint from the lab! Stefan Sun and @q-perrenoud.bsky.social collaborated to look at how sensory experience affects the adult cortex. Using ephys and 2-photon imaging, they found that varied visual experience reorganizes dendrite-targeting inhibitory circuits in V1.
Auditory neurons form ensembles in the songbird NCM, showing synchronized activity within ~6ms! And the ensemble show stimulus-specific adaptation. Remarkable dissertation work from Felipe Cini, who has just started his postdoc with @jess-cardin.bsky.social .
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
In a new @natbiotech.nature.com study, a team led by @yaleneuro.bsky.social’s @kuanawanda.bsky.social & Joerg Bewersdorf used pan-expansion microscopy to achieve a nanoscale view of the structure + molecular composition of brain circuits 🧠🔬
More 👇
news.yale.edu/2025/12/08/b...
Overall, visually-evoked ACh release in V1 reconfigures local GABAergic circuits to boost sensory responses and support conditioned behavior. Rather than being a simple gate for learning, cholinergic plasticity is actually the mechanism for expression of conditioned behavior! 5/5
Widefield imaging of cholinergic signaling revealed selective, visually evoked ACh release after visual fear conditioning. Local blockade of ACh muscarinic receptors in V1 disrupted both enhanced visual responses and conditioned behavior. ACh is required for neural and behavior plasticity! 3/5
In head-fixed mice, associating a visual cue with mild foot-shock resulted in conditioned cessation of licking (~freezing). Behavior required V1 activity, and wide field+2p calcium imaging showed learning-dependent increases in visual responses for V1 pyramidal neurons.
See our latest - collab with @jess-cardin.bsky.social, led by @andrewmoberly.bsky.social. We combined mesoscopic and 2p imaging to show that learning-dependent plasticity of ACh release in visual cortex drives enhanced visual representations and conditioned behavior. 1/5 tinyurl.com/3cfea6df
A bad thing is unfolding at NIH this week: It looks like the Trump administration is trying to replace key civil servant scientific leaders, the Institute Directors, with political hires. These directors control the NIH budget, tens of billions.
A bit of a video explainer here: 1/ 🧪
Thrilled to see this out! It was such a rewarding collaboration with Alex Wang, @jess-cardin.bsky.social, and an amazing team. We show that V1 SST interneurons integrate on a delayed developmental timeline, shaping how visual cortex processes and normalizes sensory input.
A wild ride through the postnatal maturation of SST interneurons! Alex Wang and @katie-ferguson.bsky.social found that V1 SST cells exhibit a unique developmental trajectory, coming online over a few days after eyes open. www.nature.com/articles/s41... @yaleneuro.bsky.social @wutsaiyale.bsky.social
For those interested in methods for analyzing a specific frequency of neural activity as a series of discrete events, the CBASS code is posted here with an excellent wiki by @q-perrenoud.bsky.social: github.com/cardin-higle...
New @nature.com article from the @jess-cardin.bsky.social lab: the team, led by @q-perrenoud.bsky.social, identified where gamma activity emerges and how it relates to behavior. "This could lead to an early biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease that is easily accessible in humans."
I thought we would never work on gamma oscillations again, but I was wrong 🤷♀️ So happy to see this work out in @nature.com! This was a truly epic project spearheaded by @q-perrenoud.bsky.social. Gamma isn't always an oscillation, but it's critical for sensory encoding and perceptual performance 🧠
Flyer of the SYNAPSES symposium call for applications.
📢 Calling all senior neuro postdocs: SYNAPSES brings postdocs from around the world to Yale to share their work during an in-person symposium on October 23, 2025. Apply today to present your research, talk with faculty members in 1:1s, & interact with Yale postdocs! 🧠🧪 Deadline Sept 7. #neuroskyence
Traditional end-of-cycle lunch today with @mhigley.bsky.social and our fabulous @nsb-mbl.bsky.social students Peniel and Romana, along with heoric TAs Olivier and Hao. Some amazing 🧠 science happened over the past two weeks! Going home happy with more data than we can analyze 😎
Congrats!!
Stony Beach at sunset
Back in Woods Hole for cycle 3 🐭 @nsb-mbl.bsky.social. This year, we brought new tech developed by @mhigley.bsky.social for freely moving cortical imaging!
We're excited to welcome the Levenstein lab to Yale's Neuroscience Department!
