Hot Topics of 2017: Behavior, Direct Electrical Stimulation, Computational Psychiatry, and more

Hot topic is the way that we rhyme
Hot topic is the way that we rhyme
. . .
Carol Rama and Elanor Antin
Yoko Ono and Carolee Schneeman
You're getting old, that's what they'll say, but
Don't give a damn I'm listening anyway

—Le Tigre, Hot Topic

What were some of the notable neuroscience topics and advances of 2017?

Here is a short and idiosyncratic list:

1. The Return of Behavior

Krakauer JW, Ghazanfar AA, Gomez-Marin A, MacIver MA, Poeppel D. Neuroscience Needs Behavior: Correcting a Reductionist Bias. Neuron. 2017 Feb 8;93(3):480-490.

see The Big Ideas in Cognitive Neuroscience, Explained


2. Direct Electrical Stimulation of the Human Brain (DARPA style) – but continuous DBS for nothing psychiatric yet.

Ezzyat Y, Kragel JE, Burke JF, Levy DF, Lyalenko A, Wanda P, O'Sullivan L, Hurley KB, Busygin S, Pedisich I, Sperling MR, Worrell GA, Kucewicz MT, Davis KA, Lucas TH, Inman CS, Lega BC, Jobst BC, Sheth SA, Zaghloul K, Jutras MJ, Stein JM, Das SR, Gorniak R, Rizzuto DS, Kahana MJ. (2017). Direct Brain Stimulation Modulates Encoding States and Memory Performance in Humans. Curr Biol. 27(9):1251-1258.

Wu H, Miller KJ, Blumenfeld Z, Williams NR, Ravikumar VK, Lee KE, Kakusa B, Sacchet MD, Wintermark M, Christoffel DJ, Rutt BK, Bronte-Stewart H, Knutson B, Malenka RC, Halpern CH. (2017). Closing the loop on impulsivity via nucleus accumbens delta-band activity in mice and man. Proc Natl Acad Sci Dec 18. [Epub ahead of print].

Inman CS, Manns JR, Bijanki KR, Bass DI, Hamann S, Drane DL, Fasano RE, Kovach CK, Gross RE, Willie JT. (2017). Direct electrical stimulation of the amygdala enhances declarative memory in humans. Proc Natl Acad Sci Dec 18. [Epub ahead of print].

see Amygdala Stimulation in the Absence of Emotional Experience Enhances Memory for Neutral Objects


3. Computational Psychiatry (in theory, not in reality)...  But how about:

Powers AR, Mathys C, Corlett PR. (2017). Pavlovian conditioning-induced hallucinations result from overweighting of perceptual priors. Science. 357(6351):596-600.


4. Debates About Prediction vs. Explanation

Yarkoni T, Westfall J. (2017). Choosing Prediction Over Explanation in Psychology: Lessons From Machine Learning. Perspect Psychol Sci. 12(6):1100-1122.

So many roads and so much opinion
So much shit to give in, give in to
So many rules and so much opinion
So much bullshit but we won't give in
Stop, we won't stop
Don't you stop
I can't live if you stop 

—ibid

Hey neurokids! Forget about biology and psychology. Get your degree in engineering, statistics, mathematics, machine learning, or data science!! Or else you'll end up useless like the lost generation of neuroscience Ph.D.'s......


5. Opto-anything

Tammy Rae Carland and Sleater-Kinney
Vivienne Dick and Lorraine O'Grady
Gayatri Spivak and Angela Davis
Laurie Weeks and Dorothy Allison
Stop, don't you stop
Please don't stop
We won't stop

—ibid

6. Pretty much anything by @KordingLab and by @gallantlab is revered.


7. Then there's all that Bayesian Brain Markov Blanket Free Energy Principle stuff, but @neuroconscience is way more qualified to tout this work.


8. Manifolds.

Gertrude Stein, Marlon Riggs, Billie Jean King, Ut, DJ Cuttin Candy,

David Wojnarowicz, Melissa York, Nina Simone, Ann Peebles, Tammy Hart,

The Slits, Hanin Elias, Hazel Dickens, Cathy Sissler, Shirley Muldowney,

Urvashi vaid, Valie Export, Cathy Opie, James Baldwin,

Diane Dimassa, Aretha Franklin, Joan Jett, Mia X, Krystal Wakem,

Kara Walker, Justin Bond, Bridget Irish, Juliana Lueking,

Cecelia Dougherty, Ariel Skrag, The Need, Vaginal Creme Davis,

Alice Gerard, Billy Tipton, Julie Doucet, Yayoi Kusama, Eileen Myles

Oh no no no don't stop stop............ 

—ibid

{I don't know about you, but I'm a little burned out on functional connectivity and the human connectome.}

Kathleen Hanna on Becoming a Brand