Gain control in the visual thalamus during perception and cognition
Open accessAbstract
The thalamus has traditionally been thought to passively relay sensory information to the cortex. By showing that responses in visual thalamus are modulated by perceptual and cognitive tasks, recent fMRI and physiology studies have helped revise this view. The modulatory input to the visual thalamus derives from functionally distinct cortical and subcortical feedback pathways. These pathways enable the lateral geniculate nucleus and pulvinar to regulate the information transmitted to cortical areas according to cognitive requirements. Emerging evidence suggests that such regulation involves changing the degree of synchrony between neurons as well as changing the magnitude of thalamic activity. These findings support a role for the thalamus that extends as far as contributing to the control of visual attention and awareness.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Synchronous gain control offers a neurobiological mechanism to adjust effective synaptic gain transiently across cortical regions.
“This synchronous gain control offers a neurobiological mechanism to adjust effective synaptic gain transiently across cortical regions [55,58].”
From Cerebral hierarchies: predictive processing, precision and the pulvinar (2015) · cites this paper as [58]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Visual Feature Integration and the Temporal Correlation Hypothesis
Singer, W., & Gray, C. M. (1995) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev.ne.18.030195.003011 · Cited by 3,157 · see citing works
Modulation of Oscillatory Neuronal Synchronization by Selective Visual Attention
Fries, P., Reynolds, J. H., Rorie, A. E., & Desimone, R. (2001) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1055465 · Cited by 2,786 · see citing works
Top-Down Versus Bottom-Up Control of Attention in the Prefrontal and Posterior Parietal Cortices
Buschman, T. J., & Miller, E. K. (2007) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1138071 · Cited by 2,380 · see citing works
Function of the thalamic reticular complex: the searchlight hypothesis
Crick, F. (1984) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.81.14.4586 · Cited by 1,651 · see citing works
Logothetis, N. K., & Wandell, B. A. (2004) · Annual Review of Physiology · doi:10.1146/annurev.physiol.66.082602.092845 · Cited by 1,568 · see citing works
Modulation of Neuronal Interactions Through Neuronal Synchronization
Womelsdorf, T., Schoffelen, J.-M., Oostenveld, R., Singer, W., Desimone, R., Engel, A. K., & Fries, P. (2007) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1139597 · Cited by 1,367 · see citing works
Hemodynamic Signals Correlate Tightly with Synchronized Gamma Oscillations
Niessing, J., Ebisch, B., Schmidt, K. E., Niessing, M., Singer, W., & Galuske, R. A. W. (2005) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1110948 · Cited by 806 · see citing works
Attention modulates responses in the human lateral geniculate nucleus
O’Connor, D. H., Fukui, M. M., Pinsk, M. A., & Kästner, S. (2002) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn957 · Cited by 730 · see citing works
Exploring the Thalamus and Its Role in Cortical Function
Sherman, S. M., & Guillery, R. W. (2005) · The MIT Press eBooks · doi:10.7551/mitpress/2940.001.0001 · Cited by 672 · see citing works
Neurophysiology of the BOLD fMRI Signal in Awake Monkeys
Goense, J. B. M., & Logothetis, N. K. (2008) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2008.03.054 · Cited by 583 · see citing works
Precisely correlated firing in cells of the lateral geniculate nucleus
Alonso, J., Usrey, W. M., & Reid, R. C. (1996) · Nature · doi:10.1038/383815a0 · Cited by 514 · see citing works
Guarding the gateway to cortex with attention in visual thalamus
McAlonan, K., Cavanaugh, J., & Wurtz, R. H. (2008) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature07382 · Cited by 503 · see citing works
The subcortical anatomy of human spatial neglect: putamen, caudate nucleus and pulvinar
Karnath, H., Himmelbach, M., & Rorden, C. (2002) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/awf032 · Cited by 476 · see citing works
Neural Mechanisms of Visual Attention: How Top-Down Feedback Highlights Relevant Locations
Saalmann, Y. B., Pigarev, I. N., & Vidyasagar, T. R. (2007) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1139140 · Cited by 428 · see citing works
Self-citationThe functional logic of cortico-pulvinar connections
Shipp, S. (2003) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2002.1213 · Cited by 411 · cited 6× · see citing works
“First, crucial elements of the attention network, such as the prefrontal cortex, posterior parietal cortex, and SC, are connected with the pulvinar [6].”
InfluentialSteriade, M., Contreras, D., Amzica, F., & Timofeev, I. (1996) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.16-08-02788.1996 · Cited by 404 · see citing works
Neurometabolic coupling in cerebral cortex reflects synaptic more than spiking activity
Viswanathan, A., & Freeman, R. D. (2007) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn1977 · Cited by 397 · see citing works
Thalamic synchrony and dynamic regulation of global forebrain oscillations
Huguenard, J. R., & McCormick, D. A. (2007) · Trends in Neurosciences · doi:10.1016/j.tins.2007.05.007 · Cited by 395 · see citing works
Pulvinar nuclei of the behaving rhesus monkey: visual responses and their modulation
Petersen, S. E., Robinson, D. L., & Keys, W. (1985) · Journal of Neurophysiology · doi:10.1152/jn.1985.54.4.867 · Cited by 378 · see citing works
Positron emission tomographic measurements of pulvinar activity during an attention task
LaBerge, D., & Buchsbaum, M. (1990) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.10-02-00613.1990 · Cited by 353 · see citing works
Eye-specific effects of binocular rivalry in the human lateral geniculate nucleus
Haynes, J., Deichmann, R., & Rees, G. E. (2005) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature04169 · Cited by 349 · see citing works
Zikopoulos, B., & Barbas, H. (2006) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.5511-05.2006 · Cited by 344 · see citing works
Thalamic circuitry and thalamocortical synchrony
Jones, E. G. (2002) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2002.1168 · Cited by 340 · see citing works
Neural correlates of binocular rivalry in the human lateral geniculate nucleus
Wunderlich, K., Schneider, K. A., & Kästner, S. (2005) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn1554 · Cited by 297 · see citing works
Network Oscillations: Emerging Computational Principles
Sejnowski, T. J., & Paulsen, O. (2006) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.3737-05d.2006 · Cited by 284 · see citing works
Castelo-Branco, M. S., Neuenschwander, S., & Singer, W. (1998) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.18-16-06395.1998 · Cited by 274 · see citing works
Intermodal Selective Attention in Monkeys. I: Distribution and Timing of Effects across Visual Areas
Mehta, A. D. (2000) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/10.4.343 · Cited by 267 · see citing works
Attentional Control of Visual Perception: Cortical and Subcortical Mechanisms
Desimone, R., Wessinger, M., Thomas, L., & Schneider, W. (1990) · Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology · doi:10.1101/sqb.1990.055.01.090 · Cited by 235 · see citing works
Functional Imaging of the Human Lateral Geniculate Nucleus and Pulvinar
Kastner, S., O'Connor, D. H., Fukui, M. M., Fehd, H. M., Herwig, U., & Pinsk, M. A. (2004) · Journal of Neurophysiology · doi:10.1152/jn.00553.2003 · Cited by 228 · see citing works
Self-citationStructure and connections of the thalamic reticular nucleus: Advancing views over half a century
Guillery, R. W., & Harting, J. K. (2003) · The Journal of Comparative Neurology · doi:10.1002/cne.10738 · Cited by 220 · see citing works
Snow, J. C., Allen, H. A., Rafal, R. D., & Humphreys, G. W. (2009) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0810086106 · Cited by 188 · see citing works
Vanduffel, W. (2000) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/10.2.109 · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Parallel processing in the corticogeniculate pathway of the macaque monkey
Briggs, F., & Usrey, W. M. (2009) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2009.02.024 · Cited by 139 · see citing works
Schneider, K. A., & Kästner, S. (2009) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.4452-08.2009 · Cited by 130 · see citing works
Ward, R., Danziger, S., Owen, V., & Rafal, R. (2002) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn794 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
Motion integration in a thalamic visual nucleus
Merabet, L. B., Désautels, A., Minville, K., & Casanova, C. (1998) · Nature · doi:10.1038/24382 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
No binocular rivalry in the LGN of alert macaque monkeys
Lehky, S. R., & Maunsell, J. H. R. (1996) · Vision Research · doi:10.1016/0042-6989(95)00232-4 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
γ-Band deficiency and abnormal thalamocortical activity in P/Q-type channel mutant mice
Llinás, R. R., Choi, S., Urbano, F. J., & Shin, H. (2007) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0707945104 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
Effect of Attentive Fixation in Macaque Thalamus and Cortex
Bender, D. B., & Youakim, M. (2001) · Journal of Neurophysiology · doi:10.1152/jn.2001.85.1.219 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
Spatial and temporal deficits are regionally dissociable in patients with pulvinar lesions
Arend, I. C., Rafal, R. D., & Ward, R. D. (2008) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/awn135 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Wróbel, A., Ghazaryan, A., Bekisz, M., Bogdan, W., & Kamiński, J. (2007) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.4004-06.2007 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
20 Hz rhythm of activity in visual system of perceiving cat.
Bekisz, M., & Wróbel, A. (1993) · PubMed · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Molotchnikoff, S., & Shumikhina, S. I. (1996) · Vision Research · doi:10.1016/0042-6989(95)00311-8 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Dissociating Vision and Visual Attention in the Human Pulvinar
Smith, A. T., Cotton, P. L., Bruno, A., & Moutsiana, C. (2008) · Journal of Neurophysiology · doi:10.1152/jn.90963.2008 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Pattern–motion selectivity in the human pulvinar
Villeneuve, M. Y., Kupers, R. C., GJEDDE, A. H., Ptito, M., & Casanova, C. (2005) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.06.015 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Pulvinar participates in synchronizing neural assemblies in the visual cortex, in cats
Shumikhina, S. I., & Molotchnikoff, S. (1999) · Neuroscience Letters · doi:10.1016/s0304-3940(99)00497-8 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
The human pulvinar and stimulus-driven attentional control.
Michael, G. A., & Buron, V. (2005) · Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.1037/0735-7044.119.5.1353 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Uhlrich, D. J., Manning, K., & Feig, S. L. (2003) · The Journal of Comparative Neurology · doi:10.1002/cne.10568 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Long‐range interneurons within the medial pulvinar nucleus of macaque monkeys
Imura, K., & Rockland, K. S. (2006) · The Journal of Comparative Neurology · doi:10.1002/cne.21085 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
20 Hz bursting beta activity in the cortico-thalamic system of visually attending cats
Wróbel, A., Bekisz, M., Kublik, E., et al. (1994) · Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis · doi:10.55782/ane-1994-1007 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Mather, M., Clewett, D., Sakaki, M., & Harley, C. W. (2016) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x15000667 · Cited by 695 · see citing works
Cerebral hierarchies: predictive processing, precision and the pulvinar
Kanai, R., Komura, Y., Shipp, S., & Friston, K. (2015) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2014.0169 · Cited by 432 · see citing works
Effects of locomotion extend throughout the mouse early visual system
Erisken, S., Vaiceliunaite, A., Jurjut, O., Fiorini, M., Katzner, S., & Busse, L. (2014) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.10.045 · Cited by 256 · see citing works
Roux, F., Wibral, M., Singer, W., Aru, J., & Uhlhaas, P. J. (2013) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.5778-12.2013 · Cited by 169 · see citing works
Pulvinar: Associative role in cortical function and clinical correlations
Benarroch, E. E. (2015) · Neurology · doi:10.1212/wnl.0000000000001276 · Cited by 160 · see citing works
Neuronal responses to face-like stimuli in the monkey pulvinar
Nguyen, M. N., Hori, E., Matsumoto, J., Tran, A. H., Ono, T., & Nishijo, H. (2013) · European Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1111/ejn.12020 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
The role of the pulvinar in distractor processing and visual search
Strumpf, H., Mangun, G. R., Boehler, C. N., Stoppel, C., Schoenfeld, M. A., Heinze, H., & Hopf, J. (2013) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.21496 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Varela, C., & Wilson, M. A. (2020) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.48881 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
- Authors
- Saalmann, Y. B., & Kastner, S.
- Affiliations
- Princeton University (US)
- ORCID
- Saalmann, Yuri B
- Venue
- Current Opinion in Neurobiology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2009-08
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 408-414
- ISSN
- 0959-4388 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3140205
- OpenAlex
- W1984001074
- Cited by
- 156
- References
- 50
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 0.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Current Opinion in Neurobiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (2r01ey017699-14)
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH064043)
- National Eye Institute (R01EY-017699, R21EY021078)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Multisensory perception and integration
- Keywords
- visual thalamus, gain control, lateral geniculate nucleus, pulvinar, cortical feedback, neuronal synchronization, visual attention, visual awareness, perception, cognition
- MeSH terms
- Attention, Cerebral Cortex, Cognition, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Neurons, Afferent, Thalamic Nuclei, Visual Pathways, Visual Perception
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
