Sensory perception depends on context. Many models emphasise cortical feedback as the source of contextual modulation. However, higher-order thalamic nuclei, such as the pulvinar, interconnect with many cortical and subcortical areas, suggesting a role for the thalamus in providing sensory and behavioral context — yet the nature of the signals conveyed to cortex by higher-order thalamus remains poorly understood.

Primary visual cortex (V1) receives a direct visual input from the dorsal-lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) of the thalamus; only two synapses from the retinal ganglion cells. However, V1 also receives visual input through higher-order thalamic nuclei (e.g. the pulvinar in primates).

We measured visual and behavioural information provided by the lateral posterior nucleus (LP; the pulvinar equivalent in the mouse) and dLGN axons projecting to V1 in mice. We found that both LP and dLGN carry locomotion signals, but LP signals discrepancies between running and visual flow.

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Publications

This work was published in Nature Neuroscience: MM Roth, J Dahmen, DR Muir, F Imhof, FJ Martini, SB Hofer. 2016. Thalamic nuclei convey diverse contextual information to layer 1 of visual cortex, Nature Neuroscience 19:299–307. DOI: 10.1038/nn.4197.

News and Views: Life goes by: a visual circuit signals perceptual-motor mismatch. N Ishiko and AD Huberman. 2016. Nature Neuroscience 19:177–179.