Sensory and behavioral modulation of thalamic head-direction cells
Abstract
Head-direction (HD) neurons are thought to exclusively encode directional heading. In awake mice, we found that sensory stimuli evoked robust short-latency responses in thalamic HD cells, but not in non-HD neurons. The activity of HD cells, but not that of non-HD neurons, was tightly correlated to brain-state fluctuations and dynamically modulated during social interactions. These data point to a new role for the thalamic compass in relaying sensory and behavioral-state information.
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A click-like sound (30 ms, 65-80 dB) is known to induce a transition to an active immobility state signaled by a stereotypical response in whisker-pad motion and pupil dilation.
“each current pulse (200 ms duration) was preceded by a “click-like” sound (duration of 30 ms; 65–80 dB), which is known to induce a transition to an active immobility state signaled by a stereotypical response in whisker-pad motion and pupil dilation49”
From Place and behavioral modulation of hippocampal neurons during immobility (2026) · cites this paper as [49]
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Visual objects refine head direction coding
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Place and behavioral modulation of hippocampal neurons during immobility
Sartorato, N., Zouridis, I. S., Narantsatsralt, U.-U., Blanco-Hernández, E., & Burgalossi, A. (2026) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-026-75492-w · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“To time juxtacellular stimulation during active immobility, a click-like sound (~ 65 – 80dB, 30ms 49 ) was used to reliably evoke an active immobility state prior to single-cell stimulation (Fig.”
Self-citation
- Authors
- Blanco-Hernández, E., Balsamo, G., Preston-Ferrer, P., & Burgalossi, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Tübingen (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Preston-Ferrer, Patricia
- Burgalossi, Andrea
- Venue
- Nature Neuroscience
- Published
- 2024-01
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 28-33
- ISSN
- 1097-6256 (ISSN-L)
- 1546-1726
- OpenAlex
- W4390578860
- Cited by
- 19
- References
- 60
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 3
- FWCI
- 4.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (BU 3126/2-1, BU 3126/3-1, PR 2204/1-1)
- University of Tübingen
- Athene Grant
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Spatial Cognition and Navigation
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Vestibular and auditory disorders
- Keywords
- head direction cells, thalamus, anterior thalamic nuclei, sensory modulation, behavioral state, social interaction, heading direction
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Brain, Neurons, Reaction Time, Thalamus, Mice
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