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Cortical control of the thalamus: top-down processing and plasticity

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Abstract

Blocking cortical NMDA receptors leads to a dramatic expansion of thalamic receptive fields. The results help to illuminate the role of corticofugal connections in sensory processing.

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Figure 1: Thalamocortical network in which the corticofugal projection provides narrow, highly specific positive feedback (dark orange) to a thalamic neuron with a classical center-surround receptive field, as well as negative feedback (via inhibitory interneurons, shown in green) to a large number of surrounding thalamic neurons (pale orange), creating a wide inhibitory 'suppression field' (ref. 2).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Georgetown Institute for Cognitive and Computational Sciences, Georgetown University, Washington, 20007, DC, USA

    Josef P. Rauschecker

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  1. Josef P. Rauschecker
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Rauschecker, J. Cortical control of the thalamus: top-down processing and plasticity . Nat Neurosci 1, 179–180 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/625

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