New paper published in PLoS Biology: Catecholamines alter the intrinsic variability of cortical population activity and perception

By Thomas Pfeffer and Tobias Donner. The catecholaminergic neurotransmitters noradrenaline and dopamine are important regulators of brain state, and their function is impaired in several psychiatric disorders. An influential account posits that noradrenaline renders inference and decision-making more variable (exploratory)

New paper published in J Neuroscience: Multiple transient signals in human visual cortex associated with an elementary decision

By Thomas Meindertsma and Tobias Donner. Even the most elementary perceptual decisions result from complex cascades of neural computations in the brain. Such elementary decisions entail responding to simple patterns of light on the retina with arbitrarily mapped motor act. Previous research has shown