ISSN 1097-4199
51 papers in the library · 2,645 citations · publishing 1999-2026
Neuron October 6, 2026 Adrian M. Owen, Melvyn A Goodale
The recent controversies surrounding theories of consciousness invite a more fundamental reassessment of their scientific value. We argue that the field's most transformative advances have been driven by rigorous empirical research rather than overarching theoretical frameworks and that future progress may depend on returning to that tradition.
Neuron August 5, 2026 Nadine Dijkstra, Giulia Cabbai
By systematically characterizing subjective experience during mental imagery, Anderson et al. demonstrate neural overlap between imagery and perception in transmodal association networks. These results raise fundamental and exciting new questions about the role of sensory reinstatement in mental imagery.
Neuron June 17, 2026 Vincent Taschereau-Dumouchel, Jun Seo Hwang, Hakwan Lau et al.
Rising media attention regarding consciousness in animals, fetuses, organoids, and AI has led to some rather strong statements. Most of these claims are based on "markers" of consciousness that track the general capacity for information processing rather than subjective experience per se. Accordingly, their relevance for theory arbitration may actually be limited.
Neuron May 6, 2026 Matthew D. Sacchet, Jonathan M. Lieberman
Third wave meditation research-the study of advanced meditation-investigates states, stages, and endpoints of meditation practice that emerge with increasing mastery. We review current neuroscientific progress, outline future research directions, and highlight far-reaching implications of this emerging scientific subfield.
Neuron January 7, 2026 Jinsu Lee, Michael A. Wheeler
The lifetime prevalence of mood disorders such as major depressive disorder (MDD) is thought to approach up to 50% of the world's population. Traditionally, research into the mechanisms of these disorders has focused on neurotransmission, but emerging evidence highlights neuroimmune interactions-the molecular signaling between immune and brain cells-as key regulators of brain plasticity,...
Neuron November 19, 2025 Kyle A Brown, Musa I Ajibola, Gustavo C Medeiros et al. 6 citations
Recent antidepressant drug development focuses on a next generation of drugs to rapidly relieve symptoms. Yet, how ketamine, the prototype rapid-acting antidepressant, maintains symptom relief days after drug elimination, and how repeated doses sustain longer-lasting therapeutic effects, remains unclear. Derived from elements of metaplasticity (synaptic priming), this review discusses a...
Neuron July 15, 2025 Manish K. Jain, Ryan H. Gumpper, Samuel T. Slocum et al. 42 citations
The classical psychedelics (+)-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin, and mescaline exert their psychedelic effects via activation of the 5-HT2A serotonin receptor (5-HT2AR). Recent clinical studies have suggested that classical psychedelics may additionally have therapeutic potential for many neuropsychiatric conditions including depression, anxiety, migraine and cluster headaches, drug...
Neuron May 7, 2025 Federica Lucantonio, Jacob Roeglin, Shuwen Li et al. 24 citations
Ketamine is recognized as a rapid and sustained antidepressant, particularly for major depression unresponsive to conventional treatments. Anhedonia is a common symptom of depression for which ketamine is highly efficacious, but the underlying circuits and synaptic changes are not well understood. Here, we show that the nucleus accumbens (NAc) is essential for ketamine's effect in rescuing...
Neuron May 7, 2025 Colleen A McClung
In this issue of Neuron, Pignatelli et al.1 find that ketamine reverses stress-induced changes in excitatory synapses in nucleus accumbens D1 dopamine receptor-expressing medium spiny neurons (D1-MSNs) and that these changes are necessary for the treatment of anhedonia-like behavior.
Neuron February 5, 2025 Marc Duque, Alex B. Chen, Eric Hsu et al. 27 citations
Transient exposure to ketamine can trigger lasting changes in behavior and mood. We found that brief ketamine exposure causes long-term suppression of futility-induced passivity in larval zebrafish, reversing the "giving-up" response that normally occurs when swimming fails to cause forward movement. Whole-brain imaging revealed that ketamine hyperactivates the norepinephrine-astroglia circuit...
Neuron November 20, 2024 Praachi Tiwari, Pasha A. Davoudian, Darshana Kapri et al. 26 citations
There has been a recent renewal of interest in the therapeutic potential of serotonergic psychedelics. Here, we uncover the essential role of ventral hippocampus (vHpc) GABAergic interneurons in the anxiolytic effect evoked by the serotonergic psychedelic 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine (DOI). Integrating anatomical, pharmacological, and genetic approaches, we show that 5-HT2A receptors in the...
Neuron October 9, 2024 Luyu Fan, Youwen Zhuang, Hongyu Wu et al. 6 citations
Understanding the kinetics of LSD in receptors and subsequent induced signaling is crucial for comprehending both the psychoactive and therapeutic effects of LSD. Despite extensive research on LSD's interactions with serotonin 2A and 2B receptors, its behavior on other targets, including dopamine receptors, has remained elusive. Here, we present cryo-EM structures of LSD/PF6142-bound dopamine...
Neuron September 25, 2024 Ming Li, Xue-Ke Yang, Jian Yang et al. 30 citations
Erasing traumatic memory during memory reconsolidation is a promising retrieval-extinction strategy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Here, we developed an acute social defeat stress (SDS) mouse model with short-term and re-exposure-evoked long-term social avoidance. SDS-associated traumatic memories were identified to be stored in basolateral amygdala (BLA) engram cells. A single...
Neuron May 15, 2024 Johan F. Storm, P Christiaan Klink, Jaan Aru et al. 108 citations
How is conscious experience related to material brain processes? A variety of theories aiming to answer this age-old question have emerged from the recent surge in consciousness research, and some are now hotly debated. Although most researchers have so far focused on the development and validation of their preferred theory in relative isolation, this article, written by a group of scientists...
Neuron May 15, 2024 Liad Mudrik, Rony Hirschhorn, Uri Korisky 15 citations
The study of consciousness has developed well-controlled, rigorous methods for manipulating and measuring consciousness. Yet, in the process, experimental paradigms grew farther away from everyday conscious and unconscious processes, which raises the concern of ecological validity. In this review, we suggest that the field can benefit from adopting a more ecological approach, akin to other...
Neuron May 15, 2024 Stanislas Dehaene 1 citation
Stanislas Dehaene is a cognitive neuroscientist elucidating the biological mechanisms that give rise to human perception and cognition. In a conversation with Neuron, he talks about his ongoing interest in consciousness research, the role of theory in neuroscience, and his current work on education and the science of learning.
Neuron May 15, 2024 Christof Koch
In this talk with Neuron, Christof Koch, a physicist and neuroscientist, advocates for a pragmatic program to track the footprints of consciousness in the brain and for team science, explains the recent pseudo-controversy regarding integrated information theory of consciousness, and speaks about the joy of exploring the mysteries around us.
Neuron May 1, 2024 Christopher J. Whyte, Michelle J. Redinbaugh, James M Shine et al.
Consciousness can be conceptualized as varying along at least two dimensions: the global state of consciousness and content of conscious experience. Here we highlight the cellular and systems-level contributions of the thalamus to conscious state, and then argue for thalamic contributions to conscious content, including the integrated, segregated and continuous nature of our experience. We...
Neuron April 29, 2024 Giulio Tononi, Melanie Boly, Chiara Cirelli
Summary Sleep is a universal, essential biological process. It is also an invaluable window on consciousness. It tells us that consciousness can be lost, but also that it can be regained, in all its richness, when we are disconnected from the environment and unable to reflect By considering neurophysiological differences between dreaming and dreamless sleep, we can learn about the substrate of...
Neuron April 4, 2024
Anesthesia and the neurobiology of consciousness.
Neuron April 3, 2024 Paul Zerr, Nico Adelhöfer, Martin Dresler
Lucid dreaming allows conscious awareness and control of vivid dream states; however, its rarity and instability make neuroscientific experimentation challenging. Recent advances in wearable neurotechnology, large-scale collaborations, citizen neuroscience, and artificial intelligence increasingly facilitate the decoding of this intriguing phenomenon.
Neuron February 1, 2024 Ayako Kawatake-Kuno, Haiyan Li, Hiromichi Inaba et al.
Summary Despite the rapid and sustained antidepressant effects of ketamine and its metabolites, their underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms are not fully understood. Here, we demonstrate that the sustained antidepressant-like behavioral effects of (2S,6S)-hydroxynorketamine (HNK) in repeatedly stressed animal models involve neurobiological changes in the anterior paraventricular nucleus...
Neuron December 1, 2023 Joseph Giorgio, Jenna N. Adams, A. Maass et al.
In early Alzheimer's disease (AD) β-amyloid (Aβ) deposits throughout association cortex and tau appears in the entorhinal cortex (EC). Why these initially appear in disparate locations is not understood. Using task-based fMRI and multimodal PET imaging, we assess the impact of local AD pathology on network-to-network interactions. We show that AD pathologies flip interactions between the...
Neuron October 1, 2023 Biyu J. He
Consciousness science has matured over the past three decades and is currently on the cusp of explosive growth, with the potential to transform medicine and technology. The global community recently met to synthesize the current state of knowledge and define the most exciting approaches to advance the field.
Neuron September 1, 2023 Rina Zelmann, Angelique C. Paulk, Fangyun Tian et al.
What happens in the human brain when we are unconscious? Despite substantial work, we are still unsure which brain regions are involved and how they are impacted when consciousness is disrupted. Using intracranial recordings and direct electrical stimulation, we mapped global, network, and regional involvement during wake vs. arousable unconsciousness (sleep) vs. non-arousable unconsciousness...