Causal role for pulvinar burst firing in thalamo-cortical attention control
Abstract
The primate pulvinar has been implicated in coordinating cortical networks during attention, but its causal role remains elusive. Like other thalamic nuclei, pulvinar neurons switch between tonic and burst firing, but whether bursts influence behavior and cognitive processes is unknown. Here, we show that pulvinar bursts are not only modulated by attention but also predict behavioral performance. In macaques performing a covert attention task, bursts were more frequent for non-cued targets and uniquely reconfigured population codes in parietal cortex. Crucially, electrical microstimulation of pulvinar triggered bursts that enhanced target detection and synchronized cortical spiking, with behavioral benefits scaling with the strength of burst recruitment. These results establish pulvinar bursts as a causal driver of attention, revealing a thalamo-cortical mechanism by which thalamus exerts moment-to-moment control over cortical processing and behavior.
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Evidence Hub reads this as a preprint, done in animal, not in people. Its evidence level is 5 of 5 (Very low · case / narrative / animal / in vitro / in silico). Case reports, narrative reviews, and animal, cell or computer-model studies give the weakest evidence for human health.
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