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Thalamocortical dynamics: how do the thalamus and the neocortex communicate during the processing of information?
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Thalamocortical dynamics: how do the thalamus and the neocortex communicate during the processing of information?

M A Castro-Alamancos
Revista de neurologiá, v 36(7), pp 643-649
01 Apr 2003
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33588/rn.3607.2003100
PMID: 12666046
url
https://doi.org/10.33588/rn.3607.2003100View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Action Potentials - physiology Animals Attention - physiology Neocortex - cytology Neocortex - metabolism Neural Pathways - physiology Neurons - cytology Neurons - metabolism Neurotransmitter Agents - metabolism Perception - physiology Synapses - metabolism Thalamus - cytology Thalamus - metabolism
The thalamus is the gateway to the neocortex. Most of the information that reaches the neocortex is transmitted through thalamocortical fibres. The neocortex, in turn, sends massive feedback to the thalamus through corticothalamic fibres. The sensory input reaches the thalamus by means of the primary sensory fibres. When the properties of these pathways are explored, they are found to present specific response characteristics. These studies have generally been conducted during anaesthesia or other quiescent states. Yet when the properties of these synaptic connections are explored in the active states typical of information processing, their responses are substantially different. These changes appear to be necessary to set the pathways of the thalamocortical system in a state of sensory input processing and, therefore, could account for the transformations that take place in order to sustain attentional and perceptive processes.

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Clinical Neurology
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