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The thalamus is a brain area that is located between the cerebral cortex and midbrain, and surrounds the third ventricle. The thalamus has an important role in mediating sensory information to cortical areas and is part of the olfactory and visual system. It is also implicated in regulating sleep and wakefulness.
Here the authors show that inhibitory projections from the ventral geniculate nucleus to superior colliculus facilitate visual detection of small objects in a visually guided approaching behaviour by providing broad surround suppression to SC neurons.
How the brain controls pain perception remains elusive. Here, authors show that layers 5 and 6 of the somatosensory cortex suppress or enhance nociception through cell-type-specific cortical and corticothalamic interactions.
A new study examines thalamic innervation of cortical layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons and models how this thalamic connectivity affects visual responses in these cells.
The ability to be woken from deep sleep by a sound (such as an alarm) is shown to be mediated by a specialized glutamatergic brainstem–mediodorsal thalamic pathway.
