Complex functions of human lateral frontopolar cortex.

Recent anatomical studies have shown that, compared to other primates, the human frontal pole (FP) contains a unique lateral subdivision (FPl). This area provides an important target for understanding the uniqueness of human intelligence. Paradoxically, patients with FP lesions often perform normally on standard neuropsychological tests, while experiencing problems in real-life or simulated situations.

Assigning Targetable Molecular Pathways to Transdiagnostic Subgroups Across Autism and Related Neurodevelopmental Disorders.

Significant genetic, behavioural and neuroanatomic heterogeneity is common in autism spectrum- and related- neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). This heterogeneity constrains the development of effective therapies for diverse patients in precision medicine paradigms. This has led to the search for subgroups of individuals having common etiologic factors/biology (e.

Volatility-driven learning in human infants.

Adapting to change is a fundamental feature of human learning, yet its developmental origins remain elusive. We developed an experimental and computational approach to track infants' adaptive learning processes via pupil size, an indicator of tonic and phasic noradrenergic activity. We found that 8-month-old infants' tonic pupil size mirrored trial-by-trial fluctuations in environmental volatility, while phasic pupil responses revealed that infants used this information to dynamically optimize their learning.

Cross-species Standardised Cortico-Subcortical Tractography.

Despite their importance for brain function, cortico-subcortical white matter tracts are underrepresented in diffusion MRI tractography studies. Their non-invasive mapping is more challenging and less explored compared to other major cortico-cortical bundles. We introduce a set of standardised tractography protocols for delineating tracts between the cortex and various deep subcortical structures, including the caudate, putamen, amygdala, thalamus and hippocampus.

Connectivity profile and function of uniquely human cortical areas.

Determining the brain specializations unique to humans requires directly comparative anatomical information from other primates, especially our closest relatives. Human () (m/f), chimpanzee () (f), and rhesus macaque () (m/f) white matter atlases were used to create connectivity blueprints, i.e.

Imaging the structural connectome with hybrid MRI-microscopy tractography.

Mapping how neurons are structurally wired into whole-brain networks can be challenging, particularly in larger brains where 3D microscopy is not available. Multi-modal datasets combining MRI and microscopy provide a solution, where high resolution but 2D microscopy can be complemented by whole-brain but lowresolution MRI. However, there lacks unified approaches to integrate and jointly analyse these multi-modal data in an insightful way.

Predictive Methods and Probabilistic Mapping of Subcortical Brain Components in Fossil Carnivora.

Paleoneurology reconstructs the evolutionary history of nervous systems through direct observations from the fossil record and comparative data from extant species. Although this approach can provide direct evidence of phylogenetic links among species, it is constrained by the availability and quality of data that can be gleaned from the fossil record. Here, we sought to translate brain component relationships in a sample of extant Carnivora to make inferences about brain structure in fossil species.

Distinct impact modes of polygenic disposition to dyslexia in the adult brain.

Dyslexia is a common and partially heritable condition that affects reading ability. In a study of up to 35,231 adults, we explored the structural brain correlates of genetic disposition to dyslexia. Individual dyslexia-disposing genetic variants showed distinct patterns of association with brain structure.

Autistic traits foster effective curiosity-driven exploration.

Curiosity-driven exploration involves actively engaging with the environment to learn from it. Here, we hypothesize that the cognitive mechanisms underlying exploratory behavior may differ across individuals depending on personal characteristics such as autistic traits. In turn, this variability might influence successful exploration.

Exploration in 4-year-old children is guided by learning progress and novelty.

Humans are driven by an intrinsic motivation to learn, but the developmental origins of curiosity-driven exploration remain unclear. We investigated the computational principles guiding 4-year-old children's exploration during a touchscreen game (N = 102, F = 49, M = 53, primarily white and middle-class, data collected in the Netherlands from 2021-2023). Children guessed the location of characters that were hiding following predictable (yet noisy) patterns.

Hippocampal connectivity patterns echo macroscale cortical evolution in the primate brain.

While the hippocampus is key for human cognitive abilities, it is also a phylogenetically old cortex and paradoxically considered evolutionarily preserved. Here, we introduce a comparative framework to quantify preservation and reconfiguration of hippocampal organisation in primate evolution, by analysing the hippocampus as an unfolded cortical surface that is geometrically matched across species. Our findings revealed an overall conservation of hippocampal macro- and micro-structure, which shows anterior-posterior and, perpendicularly, subfield-related organisational axes in both humans and macaques.

Toddlers strategically adapt their information search.

Adaptive information seeking is essential for humans to effectively navigate complex and dynamic environments. Here, we developed a gaze-contingent eye-tracking paradigm to examine the early emergence of adaptive information-seeking. Toddlers (N = 60, 18-36 months) and adults (N = 42) either learnt that an animal was equally likely to be found in any of four available locations, or that it was most likely to be found in one particular location.

Comparing mouse and human cingulate cortex organization using functional connectivity.

The subdivisions of the extended cingulate cortex of the human brain are implicated in a number of high-level behaviors and affected by a range of neuropsychiatric disorders. Its anatomy, function, and response to therapeutics are often studied using non-human animals, including the mouse. However, the similarity of human and mouse frontal cortex, including cingulate areas, is still not fully understood.

Comparative anatomy of the caudate nucleus in canids and felids: Associations with brain size, curvature, cross-sectional properties, and behavioral ecology.

The evolutionary history of canids and felids is marked by a deep time separation that has uniquely shaped their behavior and phenotype toward refined predatory abilities. The caudate nucleus is a subcortical brain structure associated with both motor control and cognitive, emotional, and executive functions. We used a combination of three-dimensional imaging, allometric scaling, and structural analyses to compare the size and shape characteristics of the caudate nucleus.

Comparative neuroimaging of sex differences in human and mouse brain anatomy.

In vivo neuroimaging studies have established several reproducible volumetric sex differences in the human brain, but the causes of such differences are hard to parse. While mouse models are useful for understanding the cellular and mechanistic bases of sex-specific brain development, there have been no attempts to formally compare human and mouse neuroanatomical sex differences to ascertain how well they translate. Addressing this question would shed critical light on the use of the mouse as a translational model for sex differences in the human brain and provide insights into the degree to which sex differences in brain volume are conserved across mammals.

Curiosity and the dynamics of optimal exploration.

What drives our curiosity remains an elusive and hotly debated issue, with multiple hypotheses proposed but a cohesive account yet to be established. This review discusses traditional and emergent theories that frame curiosity as a desire to know and a drive to learn, respectively. We adopt a model-based approach that maps the temporal dynamics of various factors underlying curiosity-based exploration, such as uncertainty, information gain, and learning progress.

Generalising XTRACT tractography protocols across common macaque brain templates.

Non-human primates are extensively used in neuroscience research as models of the human brain, with the rhesus macaque being a prominent example. We have previously introduced a set of tractography protocols (XTRACT) for reconstructing 42 corresponding white matter (WM) bundles in the human and the macaque brain and have shown cross-species comparisons using such bundles as WM landmarks. Our original XTRACT protocols were developed using the F99 macaque brain template.

Individual differences in processing speed and curiosity explain infant habituation and dishabituation performance.

Habituation and dishabituation are the most prevalent measures of infant cognitive functioning, and they have reliably been shown to predict later cognitive outcomes. Yet, the exact mechanisms underlying infant habituation and dishabituation are still unclear. To investigate them, we tested 106 8-month-old infants on a classic habituation task and a novel visual learning task.

Comparative neuroimaging of sex differences in human and mouse brain anatomy.

In vivo neuroimaging studies have established several reproducible volumetric sex differences in the human brain, but the causes of such differences are hard to parse. While mouse models are useful for understanding the cellular and mechanistic bases of sex-biased brain development in mammals, there have been no attempts to formally compare mouse and human sex differences across the whole brain to ascertain how well they translate. Addressing this question would shed critical light on use of the mouse as a translational model for sex differences in the human brain and provide insights into the degree to which sex differences in brain volume are conserved across mammals.

An open resource combining multi-contrast MRI and microscopy in the macaque brain.

Understanding brain structure and function often requires combining data across different modalities and scales to link microscale cellular structures to macroscale features of whole brain organisation. Here we introduce the BigMac dataset, a resource combining in vivo MRI, extensive postmortem MRI and multi-contrast microscopy for multimodal characterisation of a single whole macaque brain. The data spans modalities (MRI and microscopy), tissue states (in vivo and postmortem), and four orders of spatial magnitude, from microscopy images with micrometre or sub-micrometre resolution, to MRI signals on the order of millimetres.