How Jellyfish Control Their Movements
Fabian Pallasdies, Philipp Norton, Jan-Hendrik Schleimer, Susanne Schreiber
(see article e1370242025)
Jellyfish use condensed rings of neurons called nerve nets to process sensory information and to move. In this issue, Pallasdies et al. explored how jellyfish use these nerve nets to steer in different directions as they swim. To do this, the authors developed a biophysical computational model of the nerve net of a swimming jellyfish and let it control bodily motions in a simulation of fluid. This revealed that these sea creatures synchronize electrical pulses in their nerve nets for faster muscle contractions and more coordinated movements. Artificial simulations of whole-body movements further revealed how this mechanism enables movement control. This study provides an informative example of how to link cellular physiology to behavior with computational methods. According to the authors, this work also highlights the importance of addressing whole-body movements and environmental feedback when probing neural circuit physiology.
Each box is a simulated water movement for weak (top), intermediate (middle), and strong (bottom) neuromuscular synapse strength during a swimming stroke. Fluid coloration describes rotational movement direction, with red corresponding to clockwise and blue to counterclockwise. See Pallasdies et al. for more information.
Neural Oscillations Help Process Task-Irrelevant Sounds
Troby Ka-Yan Lui, Eva Boglietti, and Benedikt Zoefel
(see article e1544242025)
Neural processing of unpredictable visual information relies on rhythmic neural oscillations that precede the presentation of visual cues. Because it is unclear whether this is the case with unpredictable auditory information, Lui et al. explored whether rhythmic neural oscillations impact the processing of task-relevant and task-irrelevant sounds delivered at different times. The researchers collected EEG data from nearly 30 people as they detected noises at one sound frequency and ignored sounds with other frequencies. Neural responses to and auditory processing of task-irrelevant tones depended on oscillations prior to the tone. More specifically, alpha oscillations modulated early stages of auditory processing and theta oscillations were linked to later components of processing, suggesting that theta oscillations may inhibit attention toward distractors. This was not the case with task-relevant tones. Divided attention between task-relevant and task-irrelevant tones may be linked to alternating alpha oscillations between these tones. According to the authors, these findings suggest that the presence of auditory neural oscillations depends on attentional context.
Footnotes
This Week in The Journal was written by Paige McKeon
