I use birdsong to understand how the brain learns complex skills across molecules, synapses, circuits, behavior, and computation. On the 2026–27 faculty job market.

PhD Position in Ultra-High-Field Layer fMRI of Cognitive Control and Interoception

Food intake is governed by two interacting drives. The homeostatic hunger drive regulates food intake to fulfill caloric needs while the hedonic drive promotes intake of palatable foods outside of cal...

Our interests in human memory and cognition encompass the cognitive and neural basis of working memory, attention, control, and consciousness.News  Madison Symposium on Memory & Control. On 30 May 202...

Standard animal learning studies minimize individual reward magnitudes to maximize the repetitions of reinforced behaviors. We investigated how reward magnitude influences initial learning across five...

Brain activity and cognition exhibit state-dependent fluctuations that may reflect the influence of neuromodulatory systems, including norepinephrine (NE). Although the activity of noradrenergic neurons is strongly coupled to sleep-wake cycles and pupil dynamics, suggesting a global arousal signal, recent evidence suggests potentially modular partitioning of these cells. In addition, it is unclear whether different neuromodulatory signals exhibit distinct spatiotemporal patterns. We performed simultaneous, dual color mesoscopic imaging of either NE and calcium or NE and acetylcholine (ACh) signals across the neocortex, along with high-density electrophysiology, to investigate the relationship between NE release and neural activity. We find that the pattern of cortical NE signaling varies with behavioral state and is associated with enhanced functional connectivity. Simultaneous imaging of NE and ACh reveals spatiotemporally dynamic coupling between signals. Finally, NE signaling and functional connectivity are disrupted by sleep deprivation. Overall, our findings demonstrate that NE provides a multimodal signal that links transitions in behavioral state to cortical network interactions. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. National Eye Institute, R01EY022951, R21EY036254, EY026878 National Institute of Mental Health, R01MH113852 National Institute on Aging, R21AG087186 National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, https://ror.org/01s5ya894, F31 NS129354 McKnight Foundation, https://ror.org/003ghvj67, Scholar Award

This work provides a mechanistic understanding of how certain prefrontal circuits in the rodent brain permit flexibility to selectively stop learned behaviours through interactions with core subcortic...

We, the undersigned academics and researchers from around the world, express our profound concern over recent military strikes on Iran, the retaliatory responses, and the reported impact on civilian l...