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The impact of the human thalamus on brain-wide information processing

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 24, pages 416–430 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

The thalamus is a small, bilateral structure in the diencephalon that integrates signals from many areas of the CNS. This critical anatomical position allows the thalamus to influence whole-brain activity and adaptive behaviour. However, traditional research paradigms have struggled to attribute specific functions to the thalamus, and it has remained understudied in the human neuroimaging literature. Recent advances in analytical techniques and increased accessibility to large, high-quality data sets have brought forth a series of studies and findings that (re-)establish the thalamus as a core region of interest in human cognitive neuroscience, a field that otherwise remains cortico-centric. In this Perspective, we argue that using whole-brain neuroimaging approaches to investigate the thalamus and its interaction with the rest of the brain is key for understanding systems-level control of information processing. To this end, we highlight the role of the thalamus in shaping a range of functional signatures, including evoked activity, interregional connectivity, network topology and neuronal variability, both at rest and during the performance of cognitive tasks.

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Fig. 1: The functional neuroanatomy of the thalamus.
Fig. 2: Functional parcellation, connector hub properties and variability profile of the thalamus.
Fig. 3: Arousal shapes thalamic activity and thalamocortical dynamics.
Fig. 4: The functional repertoire of the thalamus serves decision-making under parametric uncertainty.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    James M. Shine

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

    Laura D. Lewis

  3. Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Laura D. Lewis

  4. Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Berlin, Germany

    Douglas D. Garrett

  5. Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany

    Douglas D. Garrett

  6. Cognitive Control Collaborative, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA

    Kai Hwang

  7. Department of Psychiatry, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA

    Kai Hwang

  8. Iowa Neuroscience Institute, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA

    Kai Hwang

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Shine, J.M., Lewis, L.D., Garrett, D.D. et al. The impact of the human thalamus on brain-wide information processing. Nat Rev Neurosci 24, 416–430 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-023-00701-0

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