Weston Fleming

A cholinergic eligibility trace facilitates amygdala plasticity in flavour avoidance learning

This study shows that cholinergic input from the parabrachial nucleus to the central amygdala supports conditioned flavour avoidance learning by enabling long-timescale plasticity.

Independent inhibitory control mechanisms for aggressive motivation and action

This paper identifies distinct inhibitory circuits in the hypothalamus that separately control the motivational and action phases of aggression in mice.

Opioid-driven disruption of the septal complex reveals a role for neurotensin- expressing neurons in withdrawal

The paper identifies Neurotensin-expressing neurons in the lateral septum as critical for opioid withdrawal by showing their activation and role in regulating withdrawal behaviors.

A neural substrate of sex-dependent modulation of motivation by value

The paper identifies a neural substrate in mice where female-specific modulation of motivation by value is mediated by ACC-DMS neurons.

Cholinergic interneurons mediate cocaine extinction through similar plasticity across medium spiny neuron subtypes

The paper shows that endogenous acetylcholine signaling in the nucleus accumbens mediates cocaine extinction by modulating synaptic strength similarly across medium spiny neuron subtypes.

Inferring spikes from calcium imaging in dopamine neurons

The paper validates a spike inference method using calcium imaging in dopamine neurons, showing accurate spike detection in both slice and in vivo settings.

A comparison of dopaminergic and cholinergic populations reveals unique contributions of VTA dopamine neurons to short-term memory

The paper compares dopaminergic and cholinergic populations in rats to determine their role in short-term memory, finding that VTA dopamine neurons have a unique causal contribution during the delay period.

Distinct signals in medial and lateral VTA dopamine neurons modulate fear extinction at different times

The paper shows that medial and lateral VTA dopamine neurons encode distinct signals during fear extinction, with different temporal effects on learning.

Specialized and spatially organized coding of sensory, motor, and cognitive variables in midbrain dopamine neurons

The paper investigates how midbrain dopamine neurons encode sensory, motor, and cognitive variables during a complex decision-making task, finding that neurons are functionally and spatially organized into clusters specialized for specific behavioral variables.