Distinct functions for direct and transthalamic corticocortical connections

2011/06/15 by S. Murray Sherman, R. W. Guillery · 351 citations
Medicine · Neuroscience · #Artificial intelligence #Biology #Class (philosophy) #Computer science #Functional Brain Connectivity Studies #Motor area #Motor cortex #Neural dynamics and brain function #Neurological disorders and treatments #Neuroscience #Thalamus

paper · doi:10.1152/jn.00429.2011

published in Journal of Neurophysiology 106(3), 1068-1077 (American Physiological Society)

openalex publication_date 2011/06/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Essentially all cortical areas receive thalamic inputs and send outputs to lower motor centers. Cortical areas communicate with each other by means of direct corticocortical and corticothalamocortical pathways, often organized in parallel. We distinguish these functionally, stressing that the transthalamic pathways are class 1 (formerly known as "driver") pathways capable of transmitting information, whereas the direct pathways vary, being either class 2 (formerly known as "modulator") or class 1. The transthalamic pathways provide a thalamic gate that can be open or closed (and otherwise more subtly modulated), and these inputs to the thalamus are generally branches of axons with motor functions. Thus the transthalamic corticocortical pathways that can be gated carry information about the cortical processing in one cortical area and also about the motor instructions currently being issued from that area and copied to other cortical areas.

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