Abstract
Thalamic nuclei have long been regarded as passive relay stations for sensory information en route to higher level processing in the cerebral cortex. Recently, physiological and theoretical studies have reassessed the role of the thalamus and it has been proposed that thalamic nuclei may actively participate with cortical areas in processing specific information1,2,3,4. In support of this idea, we now show that a subset of neurons in an extrageniculate visual nucleus, the lateral-posterior pulvinar complex, can signal the true direction of motion of a plaid pattern, indicating that thalamic cells can integrate different motion signals into a coherent moving percept5,6,7,8. This is the first time that these computations have been found to occur outside the higher-order cortical areas5,6,9,10. Our findings implicate extrageniculate cortico–thalamo–cortical loops in the dynamic processing of image motion, and, more generally, as basic computational modules involved in analysing specific features of complex visual scenes.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Mumford, D. On the computational architecture of the neocortex 1. The role of the thalamo–cortical loop. Biol. Cybern. 65, 135–145 (1991).
Sherman, S. M. & Guillery, R. W. Functional organization of thalamocortical relays. J. Neurophysiol. 76, 1367–1395 (1996).
Miller, R. Cortico–thalamic interplay and the security of operation of neural assemblies and temporal chains in the cerebral cortex. Biol. Cybern. 75, 623–275 (1996).
Singer, W. Anew job for the thalamus. Nature 369, 444–445 (1994).
Adelson, E. H. & Movshon, J. A. Phenomenal coherence of moving visual patterns. Nature 300, 523–525 (1982).
Scannell, J. W. et al. Visual motion processing in the anterior ectosylvian sulcus. J. Neurophysiol. 76, 895–907 (1996).
Stoner, G. R. & Albright, T. D. Neural correlates of perceptual motion coherence. Nature 358, 412–414 (1992).
Movshon, J. A., Adelson, E. H., Gizzi, M. S. & Newsome, W. T. The analysis of moving visual patterns. Pont. Acad. Sci. Scr. Varia. 54, 117–151 (1985).
Albright, T. D. Direction and orientation selectivity of neurons in visual area MT of the macaque. J.Neurophysiol. 52, 1106–1130 (1984).
Rodman, H. R. & Albright, T. D. Single-unit analysis of pattern-motion selective properties in the middle temporal visual area (MT). Exp. Brain Res. 75, 53–64 (1989).
Stoner, G. R. & Albright, T. D. in Visual Detection of Motion (eds Smith, A. T. & Snowden, R. J.) 253–290 (Academic, London, 1994).
Harth, E., Unnikrishnan, K. P. & Pandya, A. S. The inversion of sensory processing by feedback pathways: a model of visual cognitive functions. Science 237, 184–187 (1987).
Crick, F. & Koch, C. Constraints on cortical and thalamic projections: the no-strong-loops hypothesis. Nature 391, 245–250 (1998).
Mumford, D. in Large-scale Neuronal Theories of the Brain (eds Koch, C. & Davis, J. L.) 125–152 (MIT Press, Massachusetts, 1994).
Chalupa, L. M. in Vision and Visual DysfunctionVol. 4 (ed. Leventhal, A. G.) 140–159 (CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1991).
Guillery, R. W. Anatomical evidence concerning the role of the thalamus in corticocortical communication: a brief review. J. Anat. 187, 583–592 (1995).
Robinson, D. L. & Peterson, S. E. The pulvinar and visual salience. Trends Neurosci. 15, 127–132 (1992).
Chalupa, L. M., Coyle, R. S. & Lindsley, D. B. Effect of pulvinar lesions on visual pattern discrimination in monkeys. J. Neurophysiol. 39, 354–369 (1976).
Fabre-Thorpe, M., Viévard, A. & Buser, P. Role of the extra-geniculate pathway in visual guidance II. Effects of lesioning the pulvinar-lateral posterior thalamic complex in the cat. Exp. Brain Res. 62, 596–606 (1986).
Casanova, C. & Savard, T. Responses to moving texture patterns of cells in the striate-recipient zone of the cat's lateral posterior-pulvinar complex. Neuroscience 70, 439–447 (1996).
Payne, B. R. Evidence for visual cortical area homologues in cat and macaque monkey. Cerebral Cortex 3, 1–25 (1993).
Gizzi, M. S., Katz, E., Schumer, R. A. & Movshon, J. A. Selectivity for orientation and direction of motion of single neurons in cat striate and extrastriate visual cortex. J. Neurophysiol. 63, 1529–1543 (1990).
Mucke, L., Norita, M., Benedek, G. & Creutzfeldt, O. D. Physiological and anatomic investigation of a visual cortical area situated in the ventral bank of the anterior ectosylvian sulcus of the cat. Exp. Brain Res. 46, 1–11 (1982).
Bazhenov, M., Timofeev, I., Steriade, M. & Sejnowski, T. J. Computational models of thalamocortical augmenting responses. J. Neurosci. 18, 6444–6465 (1998).
Scannel, J. W., Burns, J. A. P. C., O'Neill, M. A., Hilgetag, C. C. & Young, M. P. The organization of the thalamo–cortical network of the cat. Soc. Neurosci. Abstr. 23, 1306 (1997).
Nowlan, J. J. & Sejnowski, T. J. Aselection model for motion processing in area MT of primates. J.Neurosci. 15, 1195–1214 (1995).
Cusick, C. G., Scripter, J. L., Darensbourg, J. G. & Weber, J. T. Chemoarchitectonic subdivisions of the visual pulvinar in monkeys and their connectional relations with the middle temporal and rostral dorsolateral visual areas, MT and DLr. J. Comp. Neurol. 336, 1–30 (1993).
Creutzfeldt, O. D. Extrageniculate-striate visual mechanisms: compartmentalization of visual functions. Progr. Brain Res. 75, 307–320 (1988).
Minville, K. & Casanova, C. Spatial frequency processing in posteromedial lateral suprasylvian cortex does not depend on the projections from the striate-recipient zone of the cat's lateral posterior-pulvinar complex. Neuroscience 84, 699–711 (1998).
Palmer, L. A., Rosenquist, A. C. & Tusa, R. J. The retinotopic organization of lateral suprasylvian visual areas in the cat. J. Comp. Neurol. 177, 237–256 (1978).
Acknowledgements
This work was funded in part by MRC and FCAR grants to C.C. We thank J. A. Movshon for providing the analysis software for the classification of neuronal responses and for commenting on the manuscript, and C. L. Baker Jr, A. M. Herbert, J. Faubert and M. von Grünau for discussions and suggestions. FRSQ provided most of the salary support for C.C., L.M. and A.D. were supported in part by FCAR-Centre and FRSQ-FCAR fellowships, respectively.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Merabet, L., Desautels, A., Minville, K. et al. Motion integration in a thalamic visual nucleus. Nature 396, 265–268 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/24382
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/24382
This article is cited by
-
Distribution and Morphology of Cortical Terminals in the Cat Thalamus from the Anterior Ectosylvian Sulcus
Scientific Reports (2019)
-
The Pulvinar of the Cat: Structural-Functional Organization and Role in Cognitive Processes
Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology (2017)
-
Overlapping visual response latency distributions in visual cortices and LP-pulvinar complex of the cat
Experimental Brain Research (2006)
-
Global motion integration in the postero-medial part of the lateral suprasylvian cortex in the cat
Experimental Brain Research (2006)
-
Retinal projections to the lateral posterior-pulvinar complex in intact and early visual cortex lesioned cats
Experimental Brain Research (2004)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
