Thalamus And Its Cortex

The brain ... There is no other part of the human anatomy that is so intriguing. How does it develop and function and why does it sometimes, tragically, degenerate? The answers are complex. In Discovering the Brain, science writer Sandra Ackerman cuts through the complexity to bring this vital topic to the public. The 1990s were declared the "Decade of the Brain" by former President Bush, and the neuroscience community responded with a host of new investigations and conferences. Discovering the Brain is based on the Institute of Medicine conference, Decade of the Brain: Frontiers in Neuroscience and Brain Research. Discovering the Brain is a "field guide" to the brainâ€"an easy-to-read discussion of the brain's physical structure and where functions such as language and music appreciation lie. Ackerman examines: How electrical and chemical signals are conveyed in the brain. The mechanisms by which we see, hear, think, and pay attentionâ€"and how a "gut feeling" actually originates in the brain. Learning and memory retention, including parallels to computer memory and what they might tell us about our own mental capacity. Development of the brain throughout the life span, with a look at the aging brain. Ackerman provides an enlightening chapter on the connection between the brain's physical condition and various mental disorders and notes what progress can realistically be made toward the prevention and treatment of stroke and other ailments. Finally, she explores the potential for major advances during the "Decade of the Brain," with a look at medical imaging techniquesâ€"what various technologies can and cannot tell usâ€"and how the public and private sectors can contribute to continued advances in neuroscience. This highly readable volume will provide the public and policymakersâ€"and many scientists as wellâ€"with a helpful guide to understanding the many discoveries that are sure to be announced throughout the "Decade of the Brain."

Imagine a seminar in which four smart people address the significance of a deep and central brain structure, the thalamus, in its relationship to the overlying cerebral cortex. Among the four, we hear from an economist, a mathematician, and two scientists. For medical or neuroscience students, or for trainees in neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry, Edison K. Miyawaki describes relevant thalamocortical anatomy in humans and other vertebrates. He summarizes known thalamocortical connections in their rich complexity. Thalamus and its Cortex is an experiment in teaching replete with old (but still good) and contemporary insights about the relationship between cortex and subcortex.

It is now more than fifty years since Sir Wilfrid Le Gros Clark (1932a) published his Arris and Gale lectures on the structure and connections of the thalamus. This authoritative overview came at a time when thalamic studies were passing from a descriptive to an experimental phase and, in his review, Le Gros Clark was able to cover virtually every aspect of the organization and development and much of the comparative anatomy of the thalamus then known. It is also approaching a half-century since A. Earl Walker (1938a) wrote The Primate Thalamus, which was strongly experimental, but with many Clinical in sights, and which he described as "an attempt to elucidate the role of the thalamus in sensation. " The intervening years have seen published a few reports of con ferences on aspects of thalamic organization and function but no monographs comparable to those of Le Gros Clark or Walker. Perhaps this is understandable when one considers, not so much the enormity of the new data that have been added, but rather the emphasis upon individual thalamic nuclei as components of separate functional systems, not all of them sensory. It is probably also true to say that studies in the commoner experimental animals such as the rat, cat, and monkey have been so productive in their own right that there was little interest in making an across-species synthesis.

The thalamus is a group of cells placed centrally in the brain that serve a critical role in controlling how both sensory and motor signals are passed from one part of the cerebral cortex to another. Essentially, all information reaching the cerebral cortex and thus consciousness is relayed through the thalamus. The role of the thalamus in controlling the flow of information (such as visual, auditory, and motor) to the cortex has only recently begun to be understood. This book provides an in-depth look at the function of the thalamus and its role as relayer of information to the cerebral cortex. The authors explore how the thalamus controls messages that are passed to the cortex and they introduce the novel suggestion that the thalamus serves a critical role in controlling how messages pass from one part of the cortex to another. Exploring the Thalamus is a comprehensive, up-to-date reference for researchers. It discusses problems concerning the function and structure of the thalamus and concludes each chapter with thought-provoking questions regarding future research. Focuses on thalamocortical interrelationships Discusses important problems concerning the function and structure of the thalamus Concludes each chapter with thought-provoking questions requiring future research

"This book is an attempt to cover two gaps in our appreciation of the critical interplay between thalamus and cortex . One is that the tendency in covering these subjects is to treat each in isolation, which overlooks the point that a key to understanding their function is appreciating their essential partnership and interdependence for sensation, action, and cognition"--

Two leading authorities on thalamocortical connections consider how the neural circuits of the brain relate to our actions and perceptions. In this book, two leading authorities on the thalamus and its relationship to cortex build on their earlier findings to arrive at new ways of thinking about how the brain relates to the world, to cognition, and behavior. Based on foundations established earlier in their book Exploring the Thalamus and Its Role in Cortical Function, the authors consider the implications of these ground rules for thalamic inputs, thalamocortical connections, and cortical outputs. The authors argue that functional and structural analyses of pathways connecting thalamus and cortex point beyond these to lower centers and through them to the body and the world. Each cortical area depends on the messages linking it to body and world. These messages relate to the way we act and think; each cortical area receives thalamic inputs and has outputs to motor centers. Sherman and Guillery go on to discuss such topics as the role of branching axons that carry motor instructions as well as copies of these motor instructions for relay to cortex under the control of the thalamic gate. This gate allows the thalamus to control the passage of information on the basis of which cortex relates to the rest of the nervous system.

New edition building on the success of previous one. Retains core aim of providing an accessible introduction to behavioral neuroanatomy.

The thalamus plays a critical role in perceptual processing, but many questions remain about what thalamic activities contribute to sensory and motor functions. In this book, two pioneers in research on the thalamus examine the close two-way relationships between thalamus and cerebral cortex and look at the distinctive functions of the links between the thalamus and the rest of the brain. Countering the dominant "corticocentric" approach to understanding the cerebral cortex—which does not recognize that all neocortical areas receive important inputs from the thalamus and send outputs to lower motor centers—S. Murray Sherman and R. W. Guillery argue for a reappraisal of the way we think about the cortex and its interactions with the rest of the brain. The book defines some of the functional categories critical to understanding thalamic functions, including the distinctions between drivers (pathways that carry messages to the cortex) and modulators (which can change the pattern of transmission) and between first-order and higher-order thalamic relays—the former receiving ascending drivers and the latter receiving cortical drivers. This second edition further develops these distinctions with expanded emphasis throughout the book on the role of the thalamus in cortical function. An important new chapter suggests a structural basis for linking perception and action, supplying supporting evidence for a link often overlooked in current views of perceptual processing.