Null and Noteworthy
Recent articles
A monthly newsletter about neuroscience research that fails to support a hypothesis or replicates a previously proposed one.
Null and Noteworthy: Downstream brain areas read visual cortex signals en masse in mice
The finding contradicts a theory that the regions prioritize neurons that are adept at identifying specific stimuli. Plus, a response to a study that questioned immune memory in astrocytes.
Null and Noteworthy: Downstream brain areas read visual cortex signals en masse in mice
The finding contradicts a theory that the regions prioritize neurons that are adept at identifying specific stimuli. Plus, a response to a study that questioned immune memory in astrocytes.
Null and Noteworthy: Neurons tracking sequences don’t fire in order
Instead, neurons encode the position of sequential items in working memory based on when they fire during ongoing brain wave oscillations—a finding that challenges a long-standing theory.
Null and Noteworthy: Neurons tracking sequences don’t fire in order
Instead, neurons encode the position of sequential items in working memory based on when they fire during ongoing brain wave oscillations—a finding that challenges a long-standing theory.
Null and Noteworthy: Learning theory validated 20 years later
The first published paper from the #EEGManyLabs replication project nullifies a null result that had complicated a famous reinforcement learning theory.
Null and Noteworthy: Learning theory validated 20 years later
The first published paper from the #EEGManyLabs replication project nullifies a null result that had complicated a famous reinforcement learning theory.
Null and Noteworthy: Reanalysis contradicts report of immune memory in astrocytes
The analysis, which has not yet been peer reviewed, attributes the finding to misidentified immune cells instead.
Null and Noteworthy: Reanalysis contradicts report of immune memory in astrocytes
The analysis, which has not yet been peer reviewed, attributes the finding to misidentified immune cells instead.
Null and Noteworthy: Reexamining registered reports
Out of 92 preregistered studies that resulted in published papers, only 15 had fully adhered to their preregistration details, according to a new analysis.
Null and Noteworthy: Reexamining registered reports
Out of 92 preregistered studies that resulted in published papers, only 15 had fully adhered to their preregistration details, according to a new analysis.
Null and Noteworthy, relaunched: Probing a schizophrenia biomarker
This edition of Null and Noteworthy—the first for The Transmitter—highlights new findings about the auditory steady-state response in people with schizophrenia that, all within one study, somehow packed in a null result and a failed replication.
Null and Noteworthy, relaunched: Probing a schizophrenia biomarker
This edition of Null and Noteworthy—the first for The Transmitter—highlights new findings about the auditory steady-state response in people with schizophrenia that, all within one study, somehow packed in a null result and a failed replication.
The true meaning of a null result
This edition of Null and Noteworthy highlights results that reveal the difficulty in drawing definitive conclusions from data, including new findings about epidurals that contradict several others and an apparent null result on sex differences that may derive from “circular logic.”
The true meaning of a null result
This edition of Null and Noteworthy highlights results that reveal the difficulty in drawing definitive conclusions from data, including new findings about epidurals that contradict several others and an apparent null result on sex differences that may derive from “circular logic.”
Prenatal exposures; Angelman trial suspension; autistic adult well-being
This month’s issue of the Null and Noteworthy newsletter breaks down some negative results involving prenatal exposures, an experimental treatment for Angelman syndrome, and the role that age at autism diagnosis plays in subsequent outcomes, and more.
Prenatal exposures; Angelman trial suspension; autistic adult well-being
This month’s issue of the Null and Noteworthy newsletter breaks down some negative results involving prenatal exposures, an experimental treatment for Angelman syndrome, and the role that age at autism diagnosis plays in subsequent outcomes, and more.
Null and Noteworthy: Modified MRI; father findings
This month’s newsletter tackles null findings from an attempted replication of a “revolutionary” MRI approach and an analysis of family genetics.
Null and Noteworthy: Modified MRI; father findings
This month’s newsletter tackles null findings from an attempted replication of a “revolutionary” MRI approach and an analysis of family genetics.
Null and Noteworthy: Arbaclofen results; another oxytocin edition
New data from clinical trials of arbaclofen and oxytocin underscore the murkiness of null results. Plus, researchers seek clarity on the neurodevelopmental effects of oxytocin during childbirth.
Null and Noteworthy: Arbaclofen results; another oxytocin edition
New data from clinical trials of arbaclofen and oxytocin underscore the murkiness of null results. Plus, researchers seek clarity on the neurodevelopmental effects of oxytocin during childbirth.
Explore more from The Transmitter
Worms help untangle brain structure/function mystery
The synaptic connectome of most animals bears little resemblance to functional brain maps, but it can still predict neuronal activity, according to two preprints that tackle the puzzle in C. elegans.
Worms help untangle brain structure/function mystery
The synaptic connectome of most animals bears little resemblance to functional brain maps, but it can still predict neuronal activity, according to two preprints that tackle the puzzle in C. elegans.
Microglia nurture young interneurons
The immune cells secrete a growth factor that “sets the supply of GABAergic interneurons in the developing brain.”
Microglia nurture young interneurons
The immune cells secrete a growth factor that “sets the supply of GABAergic interneurons in the developing brain.”
Xaq Pitkow shares his principles for studying cognition in our imperfect brains and bodies
Pitkow discusses how evolution's messy constraints shape optimal brain algorithms, from Bayesian inference to ecological affordances.
Xaq Pitkow shares his principles for studying cognition in our imperfect brains and bodies
Pitkow discusses how evolution's messy constraints shape optimal brain algorithms, from Bayesian inference to ecological affordances.