Visual cortex

Recent articles

Research image of mouse visual cortex neurons.

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.

By Laura Dattaro
31 July 2025 | 4 min read
Two panels depict different brain wiring-like networks.

Rethinking how neural activity sculpts critical periods

New findings on the role of neural activity in developing circuits are challenging our prior notions about the rules that govern critical periods.

By Gregg Wildenberg
3 June 2025 | 5 min read
Research image of connectivity in the fly brain.

Connectomics 2.0: Simulating the brain

With a complete fly connectome in hand, researchers are taking the next step to model how brain circuits fuel function.

By Laura Dattaro
2 May 2025 | 10 min read
Detailed image of neurons in the mouse visual cortex.

Inhibitory cells work in concert to orchestrate neuronal activity in mouse brain

A cubic millimeter of brain tissue, meticulously sectioned, stained and scrutinized over the past seven years, reveals in stunning detail the role of inhibitory interneurons in brain structure and function.

By Katie Moisse
9 April 2025 | 6 min read
Portrait of Yves Fregnac.

In memoriam: Yves Frégnac, influential and visionary French neuroscientist

Frégnac, who died on 18 October at the age of 73, built his career by meeting neuroscience’s complexity straight on.

By Bahar Gholipour
18 December 2024 | 9 min read
Illustration of three columns of text with certain passages underlined and circled.

This paper changed my life: ‘Spontaneous cortical activity reveals hallmarks of an optimal internal model of the environment,’ from the Fiser Lab

Fiser’s work taught me how to think about grounding computational models in biologically plausible implementations.

By Megan Peters
16 October 2024 | 6 min read
A photograph of Peter Schiller

Remembering Peter Schiller, principled pioneer of vision research

Schiller, best known for his research on how the superior colliculus controls eye movements, died last month at the age of 92.

By Angie Voyles Askham
16 January 2024 | 8 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Dispute erupts over universal cortical brain-wave claim

The debate highlights opposing views on how the cortex transmits information.

By Claudia López Lloreda
12 December 2025 | 5 min read

Waves of calcium activity dictate eye structure in flies

Synchronized signals in non-neuronal retinal cells draw the tiny compartments of a fruit fly’s compound eye into alignment during pupal development.

By Lauren Schneider
12 December 2025 | 0 min watch

Among brain changes studied in autism, spotlight shifts to subcortex

The striatum and thalamus are more likely than the cerebral cortex to express autism variants or bear transcriptional changes, two unpublished studies find.

By Holly Barker
11 December 2025 | 5 min read

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