Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.
Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27559, USA.
Cell Rep. 2024 Apr 23;43(4):114059. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114059. Epub 2024 Apr 10.
Thalamocortical loops have a central role in cognition and motor control, but precisely how they contribute to these processes is unclear. Recent studies showing evidence of plasticity in thalamocortical synapses indicate a role for the thalamus in shaping cortical dynamics through learning. Since signals undergo a compression from the cortex to the thalamus, we hypothesized that the computational role of the thalamus depends critically on the structure of corticothalamic connectivity. To test this, we identified the optimal corticothalamic structure that promotes biologically plausible learning in thalamocortical synapses. We found that corticothalamic projections specialized to communicate an efference copy of the cortical output benefit motor control, while communicating the modes of highest variance is optimal for working memory tasks. We analyzed neural recordings from mice performing grasping and delayed discrimination tasks and found corticothalamic communication consistent with these predictions. These results suggest that the thalamus orchestrates cortical dynamics in a functionally precise manner through structured connectivity.
丘脑皮质回路在认知和运动控制中具有核心作用，但它们如何促进这些过程尚不清楚。最近的研究表明，丘脑皮质突触具有可塑性的证据表明，丘脑通过学习在塑造皮质动力学方面发挥作用。由于信号从皮质到丘脑经历了压缩，我们假设丘脑的计算作用取决于皮质丘脑连接的结构。为了验证这一点，我们确定了促进丘脑皮质突触中生物上合理学习的最佳皮质丘脑结构。我们发现，专门用于传递皮质输出的传出副本的皮质丘脑投射有助于运动控制，而传递具有最高方差的模式则是工作记忆任务的最佳选择。我们分析了执行抓握和延迟辨别任务的小鼠的神经记录，并发现皮质丘脑通讯与这些预测一致。这些结果表明，通过结构化连接，丘脑以功能上精确的方式协调皮质动力学。
