Thalamocortical processing of the head-direction sense

Publication date: Available online 21 September 2019Source: Progress in NeurobiologyAuthor(s): Adrien Peyrache, Adrian J Duszkiewicz, Guillaume Viejo, Sandybel Angeles-DuranAbstractOur thoughts and sensations are examples of cognitive processes that emerge from the collective activity of billions of neurons in the brain. Thalamocortical circuits form the canonical building-blocks of the brain networks supporting the most complex cognitive functions. How these neurons communicate and interact has been the focus of extensive research in “classical” sensory systems. Similar to visual, auditory or somatosensory thalamic pathways, one primary nucleus in the anterior (limbic) thalamus - the antero-dorsal nucleus - conveys a primitive sensory input, the head-direction (HD) signal. Its activity is controlled in large part by the vestibular system and is relayed by a serially connected group of subcortical nuclei to the thalamus. Head-direction cells serve as the brain’s internal ‘compass’ and each of them is tuned to the specific direction the animal is facing. Recently, recordings of HD neuronal populations in the antero-dorsal nucleus and its main cortical target, the post-subiculum, have revealed that neuronal activity in the thalamocortical HD network are largely invariant to brain states at three levels: static (preserved functional organization), temporal (same drifting speed during exploration and Rapid Eye Movement sleep) and inter-area interaction (from thalamus to...
Source: Progress in Neurobiology - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research