The Pulvinar Regulates Information Transmission Between Cortical Areas Based on Attention Demands

Abstract

The Conductor in the Thalamus The pulvinar is the largest thalamic nucleus in the brain but its functions remain unclear. The pulvinar is ideally positioned to synchronize activity across the visual cortex. Saalmann et al. (p. 753 ) combined diffusion tensor imaging with multi-electrode recordings from three different brain areas in monkeys to probe thalamo-cortical interactions during visual attention. The pulvinar was found to play a vital role in attention by routing behaviorally relevant information across the visual cortex.