Asst Prof @UTAustin • NHP + Human ephys and cognition • #Humboldtian formerly @UCBerkeleyNeuro, @TueNeuroCampus, @otago
Austin, TX
Joined June 2012
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Thom Elston retweeted
The brain can stop an automatic habit by "scrambling" the pattern of activity rather than by simply turning it down.
Orbitofrontal value dynamics and striatal population geometry during interruption of automatic behavior
sciencedirect.com/science/ar…
#neuroscience
New paper out in @NeuroCellPress! Using Multi-Site Neuropixels recordings in NHPs, we show that automatic behaviors are interrupted by the OFC "jamming" rather than "suppressing" the striatum!
sciencedirect.com/science/ar…
Happy to share that we've fabricated our first #Neuropixel holders here @UTAustin. We've got a 3D-printed Gen2 holder+drive on the way which allows for independently driving the probe and the GT with a footprint ~1/4 the size of this Gen1 design. Can't wait to try it out!
The final version in @NatureNeuro is finally out - many thanks to the reviewers who made the paper better!
nature.com/articles/s41593-0…
I'm pleased to share the 2nd big effort of my postdoc in the Wallis lab @UCBerkeleyNeuro: I found that hippocampal-prefrontal interactions enable contextual reasoning in non-human primates. Now, a 🧵biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/…
About to start a neuropixel recording and I'm realizing how deeply meditative recording really can be - it's nice when you know exactly what needs to be done and how to do it. The doing of science, at least temporarily, makes my mind feel like a solved Rubik's cube
Really exciting work showing a unique role for alpha oscillations as a mechanism underlying attentional enhancement/suppression of relevant/irrelevant sensory processing! Congrats to the authors!
Selective attention guides behavior through target enhancement and distractor suppression. Using human ECoG, we uncovered the complementary neural mechanisms enabling this gating process. pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.23…
Work with Sabine Kastner, Bob Knight, @OleJensenOHBA, @FiebelkornIan
Excited to share my neuropixel work on Monday at #sfn2024! Come visit my poster to see how the PFC and striatum interact to enable primates to overcome their impulses and exert self control! Also, come learn about opportunities in my lab at @UTAustin!
abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/2…
Thom Elston retweeted
New preprint from @ThomasALanglois and @julie_charlton_ ! tinyurl.com/kfckzx8j
We asked how prior expectations are combined with sensory signals to form a perceptual decision in macaque PFC.
🚨 I am looking for a postdoc! We'll get into multi-site neuropixel recordings and closed-loop stimulation in NHPs performing tasks related to attention, self-control, and decision-making. DMs/emails with questions are welcome. Please share and RT!
utaustin.wd1.myworkdayjobs.c…
Interesting work that proposes a fundamental constraint on replay activity in the HPC - neurons which have recently been active seem unable to participate in replays which has the effect of biasing trajectories "away" from those of recent experience. Super cool work!
I’m excited to share my first preprint, with @john_widloski and @replayprof! We find that self-avoidance dominates the selection of hippocampal replay.
biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/…
#tweeprint below!
Not gonna lie, although I was v skeptical at first, I am really enjoying using Notion as a recording log and also as a tool to plan starting my lab. It's a bit overwhelming at first but it becomes very satisfying (and it looks beautiful!)
Just finished a new #neuropixel sorting/alignment pipeline for NHP users based on Kilosort4. KS4 is a major improvement, for sure.
github.com/t-elston/ks4_pipe…
Big news! I've accepted an offer from @UTAustin @ut_neuroscience
and will start my lab in January! We'll be doing NHP #neuropixel recordings and BCIs to understand the neural mechanisms of attention and self control. It's a dream come true and I am so thankful to my mentors 🥲
Thom Elston retweeted
Alpha phase-coding supports feature binding during working memory maintenance biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/…
The fact that we can know stuff like this is just incredible - we're living in an amazing time to do science.
Thom Elston retweeted
Hot off the Press:
"Abstract deliberation by visuomotorneurons in prefrontal cortex" - Julie A. Charlton & Robbe L. T. Goris has been published in Nature Neuroscience
rdcu.be/dF7Kl
@julie_charlton_ @NatureNeuro
I've been looking into in risk attitudes in NHPs and am finding substantial individual differences. Some NHPs love risk, others avoid it. Is this interesting enough for a short behavior+RL paper or should I take the learning and move on?
57%Paper - share all data
17%Cool, but no paper
26%Just show me
35 votes • Final results