Cited by 809Neural dynamics and brain functionNeuroscience and Neuropharmacology ResearchVisual perception and processing mechanisms

Thalamus plays a central role in ongoing cortical functioning

Sherman, S Murray·2016·Nature Neuroscience

Abstract

Several challenges to current views of thalamocortical processing are offered here. Glutamatergic pathways in thalamus and cortex are divided into two distinct classes: driver and modulator. We suggest that driver inputs are the main conduits of information and that modulator inputs modify how driver inputs are processed. Different driver sources reveal two types of thalamic relays: first order relays receive subcortical driver input (for example, retinal input to the lateral geniculate nucleus), whereas higher order relays (for example, pulvinar) receive driver input from layer 5 of cortex and participate in cortico-thalamo-cortical (or transthalamic) circuits. These transthalamic circuits represent an unappreciated aspect of cortical functioning, which I discuss here. Direct corticocortical connections are often paralleled by transthalamic ones. Furthermore, driver inputs to thalamus, both first and higher order, typically arrive via branching axons, and the transthalamic branch often innervates subcortical motor centers, leading to the suggestion that these inputs to thalamus serve as efference copies.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/nn.4269

Cites

88 of 88 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

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?

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Sherman, S. M.
Affiliations
University of Chicago (US)
Corresponding author
Sherman, S Murray
Venue
Nature Neuroscience
Published
2016-03-29
Volume
19
Issue
4
Pages
533-541
ISSN
  • 1097-6256 (ISSN-L)
  • 1546-1726
OpenAlex
W2317325433
Cited by
809
References
88
Citations by year
2026: 85 · 2025: 92 · 2024: 63 · 2023: 81 · 2022: 70 · 2021: 101 · 2020: 70 · 2019: 79 · 2018: 97 · 2017: 57 · 2016: 14
FWCI
8.65
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Nature Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Eye Institute (R01EY022338, EY-022338)
  • National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (R01DC008794, DC-008794)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
Keywords
thalamus, thalamocortical system, efference copy, glutamatergic pathways, lateral geniculate nucleus, pulvinar, thalamic connectivity
MeSH terms
Animals, Cerebral Cortex, Humans, Nerve Net, Neural Pathways, Thalamus, Glutamic Acid

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