Saalmann Yuri B
Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI, USA.
Front Syst Neurosci. 2014 May 9;8:83. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2014.00083. eCollection 2014.
The intralaminar and medial thalamic nuclei are part of the higher-order thalamus, which receives little sensory input, and instead forms extensive cortico-thalamo-cortical pathways. The large mediodorsal thalamic nucleus predominantly connects with the prefrontal cortex, the adjacent intralaminar nuclei connect with fronto-parietal cortex, and the midline thalamic nuclei connect with medial prefrontal cortex and medial temporal lobe. Taking into account this connectivity pattern, it is not surprising that the intralaminar and medial thalamus has been implicated in a variety of cognitive functions, including memory processing, attention and orienting, as well as reward-based behavior. This review addresses how the intralaminar and medial thalamus may regulate information transmission in cortical circuits. A key neural mechanism may involve intralaminar and medial thalamic neurons modulating the degree of synchrony between different groups of cortical neurons according to behavioral demands. Such a thalamic-mediated synchronization mechanism may give rise to large-scale integration of information across multiple cortical circuits, consequently influencing the level of arousal and consciousness. Overall, the growing evidence supports a general role for the higher-order thalamus in the control of cortical information transmission and cognitive processing.
板内核和丘脑内侧核是高级丘脑的一部分，其很少接受感觉输入，而是形成广泛的皮质-丘脑-皮质通路。大的丘脑背内侧核主要与前额叶皮质相连，相邻的板内核与额顶叶皮质相连，中线丘脑核与内侧前额叶皮质和内侧颞叶相连。考虑到这种连接模式，板内核和内侧丘脑参与多种认知功能，包括记忆处理、注意力和定向以及基于奖励的行为，就不足为奇了。这篇综述探讨了板内核和内侧丘脑如何调节皮质回路中的信息传递。一个关键的神经机制可能涉及板内核和内侧丘脑神经元根据行为需求调节不同组皮质神经元之间的同步程度。这种丘脑介导的同步机制可能会导致跨多个皮质回路进行大规模的信息整合，从而影响觉醒和意识水平。总体而言，越来越多的证据支持高级丘脑在控制皮质信息传递和认知处理中具有普遍作用。
