Our recent paper titled “Dynamic modulation of decision biases by brainstem arousal systems” was selected as the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) “Paper of the Month”.
The accompanying text reads as follows:
The paper constitutes a significant advancement in the fundamental understanding of decision-making and variability therein. Overcoming the numerous challenges associated with brainstem fMRI, the authors were able to track varying levels of locus coeruleus activity, a small nucleus in the brainstem that shapes arousal levels by releasing noradrenaline. The data suggest that the locus coeruleus reduces existing biases in our decision-making. Varying levels of locus coeruleus activity may thus explain why we can reach different conclusions when considering the same information on multiple occasions.
The paper is a showcase for modern neuroscience that is changing its ways in response to the replication crisis. Supporting this cause, we made all the data we collected for this study publically available on Figshare, and all analysis scripts on Github. First author Jan Willem de Gee was quoted in a recent eLife editorial blog post on forking custom software to the eLife GitHub account (https://elifesciences.org/elife-news/inside-elife-forking-software-used-elife-papers-github):
“Jan Willem de Gee (University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf), one of the first eLife authors to have code included within eLife’s GitHub account, said: “I think it’s really great the way eLife promotes accessibility, transparency and reproducibility; it was our pleasure to contribute.”
More information about this study can be found here. Congrats, Jan Willem!