Inside Neuroscience

Looking at how neurons change during development is one thing, but how can we know if these changes affect behaviour? To answer this, Dr Phoebe Reynolds (former PhD student at King’s), built a virtual reality setup for zebrafish, letting her see if the changes she measured in neurons influenced how the fish behave. In this episode of Inside Neuroscience, Dr Phoebe Reynolds joins Dr Francesca Greenstreet to talk about what exactly a virtual reality for fish looks like, and the collaboration this project sparked between King’s College London and the University of Konstanz. To hear more about the study mentioned in the episode, check out the previous episode with Professor Robert Hindges, or read about it here: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/virtual-reality-study-with-zebrafish-shows-surroundings-influence-developing-biology-of-the-eye

Does what the eye sees in the first few days of life influence how it processes information later on? A new study from Reynolds et al., reveals that in developing zebrafish, growing up in horizontal or vertical stripey ‘worlds’ can drastically affect how neurons in the eye function and even change the shape of neurons in the retina. Professor Robert Hindges, senior author on the study, discusses the results of the study with Dr Francesca Greenstreet, and what these findings may mean for our understanding of brain development. Notes: In this episode Professor Hindges mentions the Müller Lyer illusion, an optical illusion where lines of the same length appear to many to be of different length. More information about the study, alongside a video showing images from the virtual reality can be found at www.kcl.ac.uk/ioppn/news

Compulsive traits are tendencies to repeat patterned behaviours. They are often seen in psychiatric conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), addiction and eating disorders. But what drives compulsive traits? In this episode, Dr Toby Wise, Senior Research Fellow in Neuroscience at King's College London, talks about a new study which used an online video game played by 2,000 people to examine the relationship between compulsive traits and different types of decision making. Dr Wise talks to School Communications Manager Dr Francesca Greenstreet about how he used the video game, combined with some complex maths, to tease apart habitual strategies from more goal-oriented ones and what this means for our understanding of compulsivity. Read more about the study: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/compulsive-traits-linked-to-uncertainty-over-future-plans Learn more about the School of Neuroscience at King's College London: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/neuroscience

Sleep problems affect more than 80% of children with neurodevelopmental disorders including epilepsy. Children who sleep poorly can have problems with learning and behaviour. It can also have a knock-on effect on the whole family’s sleep. Professor Deb Pal, Professor of Paediatric Epilepsy at King’sCollege London, recently published the results of the CASTLEOnline Sleep Intervention study. In the trial they investigated whether a web app could guide parents and children through a series of behavioural sleeptechniques, much like a specialist would in a clinic. In this episode, Professor Pal sits down with School Communications Manager Dr Francesca Greenstreet to talk about what worked, what could be improved and why this type of research is so important. More information about the results of the study: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/self-guided-behavioural-app-helps-children-with-epilepsy-sleep-earlier Learn more about the School of Neuroscience at King's College London: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/neuroscience