What is the thalamocortical pathway?
Functionally, thalamocortical radiations, also called thalamocortical fibers, relay sensory or motor information from the thalamus to distinct areas of the cerebral cortex through relay neurons. Structurally, thalamocortical radiations are parallel pathways linking specific thalamic nuclei with specific cortical areas.
What is the Thalamocortical loop?
The thalamocortical loop starts with oscillatory thalamic cells. The cortex provides feedback to the thalamus through links to dendrites of these thalamocortical cells and serves as the source of constant thalamic oscillation. Oscillatory behavior depends on the conscious/unconscious state of the brain.
What are Thalamocortical projections?
Thalamocortical projections are the primary drivers of cortical activity in sensory areas5 and associative brain regions, such as the frontal cortex10–12. The thalamus contains ca. 40 nuclei4,13,14, each innervating a different combination of cortical areas.
What does the anterior thalamic radiations do?
The ATR is a WM fiber bundle that connects the dorsomedial thalamic nucleus to the prefrontal cortex (mainly the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) through the anterior limb of the internal capsule, and is involved in executive functions and planning complex behaviors.
What is CSTC circuit?
The cortico-striatal-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) pathway is a brain circuit that controls movement execution, habit formation and reward. Hyperactivity in the CSTC pathway is involved in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by the execution of repetitive involuntary movements.
What is Corticothalamic?
The Corticospinal tract (CST), also known as the pyramidal tract, is a collection of axons that carry movement-related information from the cerebral cortex to the spinal cord. It forms part of the descending spinal tract system that originate from the cortex or brainstem.
What are Corticothalamic neurons?
Corticothalamic neurons in layer 6 (CT neurons), distinguished by their axonal projections to thalamus including the reticular nucleus (RTN), are one of three major classes of cortical projection neurons, along with intratelencephalic (IT) neurons (projecting to cortex/striatum; e.g., corticocallosal neurons) and …
Where are cortico-thalamic feedback neurons located in the thalamus?
The thalamic reticular nucleus ( TRN) receives incoming signals via corticothalamic pathways and regulates activity within the thalamus accordingly. Cortico-thalamic feedback neurons are mostly found in layer VI of the cortex.
Where are thalamocortical radiations processed in the brain?
Structure. Thalamocortical radiations also innervate the gustatory pathways, as well as pre-frontal motor areas. Visual input from the optic tract is processed by the lateral geniculate nucleus of the thalamus, auditory input in the medial geniculate nucleus, and somatosensory input in the ventral posterior nucleus of the thalamus.
Why are neuroscientists interested in thalamocortical circuitry?
Computational neuroscientists are particularly interested in thalamocortical circuits because they represent a structure that is disproportionally larger and more complex in humans than other mammals (when body size is taken into account), which may contribute to humans’ special cognitive abilities.
What does the MCC do in the thalamocortical tract?
The MCC sifts through feedback, pain, salience, reward learning, premotor function, and conflict monitoring signals. It uses somatomotor mapping to attend to and process this information, which at the same time has been evaluated for salience to drive adaptive behaviors.