The Thalamus

A broad survey of current scientific knowledge of the thalamus encompassing anatomy, physiology, computational mechanisms and cognition.

Michael M. Halassa (Edited by)

9781108481564, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 1 September 2022

452 pages
28.5 x 22.1 x 2.5 cm, 1.39 kg

'The thalamus is one of the most remarkable structures in the brain, central for such fundamental functions as relaying of sensations, sleep, attention, cognitive flexibility, and consciousness. What is the thalamus and what does it do? By comprehensively assembling insights of experts at the frontier of thalamic research, this volume brings new light to the brain's inner room.' Doris Tsao, University of California at Berkeley, USA

The thalamus is a key structure in the mammalian brain, providing a hub for communication within and across distributed forebrain networks. Research in this area has undergone a revolution in the last decade, with findings that suggest an expanded role for the thalamus in sensory processing, motor control, arousal regulation, and cognition. Moving beyond previous studies of anatomy and cell neurochemistry, scientists have expanded into investigations of cognitive function, and harness new methods and theories of neural computation. This book provides a survey of topics at the cutting edge of this field, covering basic anatomy, evolution, development, physiology and computation. It is also the first book to combine these disciplines in one place, highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of thalamus research, and will be an essential resource for students and experts in biology, medicine and computer science.

Preface Michael M. Halassa
Part I. History: 1. A brief history of the thalamus Francisco Clasca
Part II. Anatomy: 2. Organization of thalamic inputs Laszlo Acsady
3. Thalamic output pathways Francisco Clasca
4. Thalamocortical circuitry matters Murray Sherman
Part III. Evolution: 5. Morphological, developmental and functional evolution of the thalamus Ann Butler
6. Lamprey thalamus and beyond Shreyas Suryanarayanan, Brita Robertson, Sten Grillner
Part IV. Development: 7. Development of the thalamocortical systems Sara Bandiera, Zoltan Molnar
8. Ontogeny of thalamic GABAergic neurons Alessio Delogu
Part V. Sensory processing: 9. Thalamocortical interactions in primary visual cortex Jose-Manuel Alonso, Massimo Scanziani
10. Corticothalamic feedback in vision W. Marty Usrey
11. The vibrissa sensorimotor system of rodents: A view from the sensory thalamus Martin Deschenes, David Kleinfeld
12. Corticothalamic pathways in the somatosensory system Alexander Groh, Rebecca Mease
13. Thalamocortical circuits for auditory processing, plasticity and perception Daniel Polley, Anne Takesian
Part VI. Motor Control: 14. Motor thalamic interactions with brainstem and basal ganglia Jesse Goldberg
15. Thalamic-cerebellar interactions Freek Hoebeek, Henk-Jan Boele
Part VII. Cognition: 16. The thalamus in cognitive control Kai Hwang, Mark D'Esposito
17. The thalamus in attention Sabine Kastner, Michael Arcaro
18. The thalamus in navigation Adrien Peyrache
Part VIII. Arousal: 19. Thalamus and sleep Mattia Aime, Antoine R. Adamantidis
20. Central thalamic contributions to arousal regulation Nicholas Schiff
Part IX. Computation: 21. A dynamical systems perspective on thalamic circuit function Qinlong Gu, John Murray
22. Computational contributions of the thalamus to learning and memory Randall O'Reilly, Thomas Hazy.

Subject Areas: Neurosciences [PSAN], Neurology & clinical neurophysiology [MJN], Cognition & cognitive psychology [JMR]