# Functional relationships between visual cortex and thalamus

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO · 2020 · $383,186

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 The proposed research will test related hypotheses that thalamus plays a heretofore neglected and critical
role in cortical processing. In particular, many thalamic nuclei, that together comprise the majority of thalamic
volume and that were previously mysterious in function, we now suggest are critically involved in information
flow and functional, dynamic binding between cortical areas via cortico-thalamo-cortical pathways. We
propose to study these pathways using the mouse visual system as the model involving in vitro slice
preparations and in vivo behaving preparations. It appears that, in many and perhaps all cases, cortical areas
are connected by both direct and these transthalamic pathways, and we wish to understand why: What is
different in the information passed by each pathway? Why does one pass through thalamus with the possibility
of being blocked there? Is there nonlinear summation in the target cortical area when both pathways are active,
and could this be involved in dynamic linking of areas to subserve various cognitive tasks, such as attention? To
begin developing answers to these questions, we propose to probe basic circuit properties of these pathways to
better understand the role of the transthalamic pathways in higher cognitive functioning.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9918920
- **Project number:** 5R01EY022338-08
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
- **Principal Investigator:** S. Murray SHERMAN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $383,186
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2012-04-01 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9918920

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9918920, Functional relationships between visual cortex and thalamus (5R01EY022338-08). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9918920. Licensed CC0.

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