Conditional Bistability, a Generic Cellular Mnemonic Mechanism for Robust and Flexible Working Memory Computations.

Persistent neural activity, the substrate of working memory, is thought to emerge from synaptic reverberation within recurrent networks. However, reverberation models do not robustly explain the fundamental dynamics of persistent activity, including high-spiking irregularity, large intertrial variability, and state transitions. While cellular bistability may contribute to persistent activity, its rigidity appears incompatible with persistent activity labile characteristics.

High-performance silver-dielectric interference filters for RGBIR imaging.

New architectures of interference silver-dielectric multilayer filters inspired from induced transmission designs are investigated with the prospect of high-performance red-green-blue (RGB) complementary metal oxide semiconductor imaging. The optimized designs provide combined colorimetric, signal-to-noise ratio and sensitivity performances similar to the traditional organic color filters, but without the equirement of an external infrared (IR)-cut filter, which enables the integration of additional channels such as white or IR, in addition to RGB. Due to the sub-micrometer thickness of the stacks, this is a unique solution for fully integrated, high-performance multispectral filters patterned in very small pixels.

Nicotinic receptors in the ventral tegmental area promote uncertainty-seeking.

Cholinergic neurotransmission affects decision-making, notably through the modulation of perceptual processing in the cortex. In addition, acetylcholine acts on value-based decisions through as yet unknown mechanisms. We found that nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) expressed in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) are involved in the translation of expected uncertainty into motivational value.