Manuscript Topics

We interact with the external world using senses. Sensory processing is essential for our survival. Encoding and decoding of sensory information allows us to understand the external world and take actions to it when necessary. External sensory stimuli are collected by our sensory organs and sent to the brain. These ever-changing signals are transduced and encoded to establish an internal, dynamic and optimized representation of the external world, which is further shaped by internal brain state, previous experience, and learning and memory, and sometimes distorted under illusory or pathological conditions. This internal modeling of external world is then decoded to serve as the basis to execute higher cognitive function, such as conceptualization and decision making, and to guide our behaviors and actions. After decades of inter-disciplinary investigations and tremendous efforts, we begin to elucidate the strategies of encoding and decoding sensory stimuli in context or noisy background. Most of the sensory information sent to the cortex is routed via the thalamus first. While a small portion of the thalamus (first-order thalamic nuclei) are dedicated to faithfully convey sensory the information to the primary sensory cortex, most of the thalamus are higher-order nuclei whose functionality is poorly understood. Prominent higher-order thalamic nuclei include the pulvinar nucleus and the lateroposterior, posterior, mediodorsal, laterodorsal and anterior thalamic nuclei. Previous animal and human studies have shown that these structures are involved in visual processing, attention, visually guided behaviors, decision making, learning and memory, and innate fear response. However, how these functionalities are achieved through higher-order thalamic nuclei awaits to be elucidated.

This special issue aims to collect papers, of clinical, experimental, and computational nature, with the most recent advances related to the function of higher-order thalamic nuclei. We welcome articles focusing on the anatomical connectivity between thalamic nuclei and cortical and subcortical structures, in vivo and in vitro physiological properties of the neurons of thalamic nuclei, and the functional significance and dysfunction of thalamic nuclei in normal sensory processing and cognitive activities and brain disorders.

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