Cortical-subcortical brain loops

Anterior cingulate cortical neurons exhibit membrane resonance at theta frequencies, and their synaptic transmission to the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus shows facilitation at theta frequencies.

fMRI BOLD activity during a mental rotation task reveals a distributed network spanning the cortex, subcortex, and cerebellum that differentiates rotated from non-rotated stimuli and correct from incorrect responses.

After short-term Physical activity (PA), working memory (WM) performance improved. Ripple activity increased with memory load, and ripple to awake-spindle coupling strengthened, suggesting PA boosts WM via hippocampal-thalamocortical dynamics.

Perception-action integration is related to connectivity strength in the alpha frequency band reflecting the maintenance of associations over time, and in the theta frequency band reflecting the organization of sequential information.

This study identified a cross-hemispheric anterior cingulate arc via the claustrum which allows the brain to allocate attentional priority to competing innocuous and noxious inputs by activating fast-spiking interneurons.

Intracranial stimulation maps human brain causal connectivity, uncovering distinct pathways. The authors show that thalamic pulses uniquely evoke delayed theta oscillations, offering new insights into the brain’s functional architecture.

The hippocampus and insula communicate when processing emotional memories. Discrete sites in the human insular cortex showed changes that predicted later memory recall, while others responded to emotional content.

Sydnor et al. developed a new tractography atlas of thalamocortical structural connections and applied it to three youth samples. They uncovered coordinated development between thalamic connectivity and hierarchical cortical plasticity in humans.

Animals must distinguish between signals from sensory stimuli and action-generated signals. This paper shows that the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus acts as a corollary discharge center to suppress motion-induced visual signals, orchestrating accurate perception and motor control.

Hansen et al. used in vivo functional imaging of the human brainstem and cortex to demonstrate how the brainstem shapes cortical functional architecture, including oscillatory dynamics, cognitive specialization and hierarchical organization.

Neural mechanisms underlying thalamic contributions to evoked potentials by brain stimulation, which has been widely used for therapeutic interventions, are not fully understood. In this translational study the authors show that the thalamus plays a critical role in shaping its neural responses across species and across stimulation modalities.

During speech, neurons in the subthalamic nucleus transiently couple with cortex oscillations. Speech sound errors occur when this coupling is delayed. These findings enhance understanding of information processing in human brain during speech.

Neural mechanisms underlying goal-directed actions are not fully understood. Here authors show that in mice, the secondary motor cortex determines it by integrating motor thalamic inputs that promote action based on action values and orbitofrontal inputs that bias to non-action.

Cortico-thalamic interactions have been implicated in a variety of motor functions, including movement planning, initiation, and moment-to-moment control. Here the authors present evidence suggesting that these interactions rest on the existence of preconfigured neural activity patterns that constrain movement representation and execution.

People are more likely to take action when they expect a reward but hold back when expecting punishment. Here, the authors show that such motivational biases may stem from biased action outcome learning in cortico-striatal circuits.