[Interaction of heterosensory afferent impulses in the neurons of the thalamic associative nuclei].

The interaction of visual, auditory and cutaneous afferent signals on neurons of pulvinar (Pulv), posterior lateral (LP) and mediodorsal (MD) thalamic nuclei was studied in acute experiments on cats anaesthetized with a mixture of nembutal and chloralorse. The first (more frequent) type of the interaction was characterized by inhibition or inhibition followed by facilitation of the response; the second--by facilitation or facilitation followed by inhibition of neuronal activity. The capacity for interaction in MD neurons was less expressed than in cells of the Pulv-LP complex (P less than 0.05). The interaction could be better seen in three-sensory elements. Certain peculiarities were found in the interaction of afferent signals coming from different peripheral receptive areas in neurons of both structures.