Linked Life Data

16624964

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/16624964

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
16
pubmed:dateCreated
2006-4-20
pubmed:abstractText
The major pathway for visual information reaching cerebral cortex is through the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of the thalamus. Acting on this vital relay is another thalamic nucleus, the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN). This nucleus receives topographically organized collaterals from both thalamus and cortex and sends similarly organized projections back to thalamus. The inputs to the TRN are excitatory, but the output back to the thalamic relay is inhibitory, providing an ideal organization for modulating visual activity during early processing. This functional architecture led Crick in 1984 to hypothesize that TRN serves to direct a searchlight of attention to different regions of the topographic map; however, despite the substantial influence of this hypothesis, the activity of TRN neurons has never been determined during an attention task. We have determined the nature of the response of visual TRN neurons in awake monkeys, and the modulation of that response as the monkeys shifted attention between visual and auditory stimuli. Visual TRN neurons had a strong (194 spikes/s) and fast (25 ms latency) transient increase of activity to spots of light falling in their receptive fields, as well as high background firing rate (45 spikes/s). When attention shifted to the spots of light, the amplitude of the transient visual response typically increased, whereas other neuronal response characteristics remained unchanged. Thus, as predicted previously, TRN activity is modified by shifts of visual attention, and these attentional changes could influence visual processing in LGN via the inhibitory connections back to the thalamus.
pubmed:commentsCorrections
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Apr
pubmed:issn
1529-2401
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Electronic
pubmed:day
19
pubmed:volume
26
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
4444-50
pubmed:dateRevised
2006-11-15
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2006
pubmed:articleTitle
Attentional modulation of thalamic reticular neurons.
pubmed:affiliation
Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20982-4435, USA. km@nei.nih.gov
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Comparative Study, Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural