Prefrontal Cortex Regulates Sensory Filtering through a Basal Ganglia-to-Thalamus Pathway
Name
nihms-1530070.pdf
Description
Accepted version
Size
2.99 MB
Format
Unknown
Checksum (MD5)
0d08180142268d2f5f0179d3db8521fd
Author(s)
Nakajima, Miho
Schmitt, LIan
Halassa, Michael
Date Issued
2019
Journal
Neuron
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Citation
Nakajima, Miho, Schmitt, LIan and Halassa, Michael M. 2019. "Prefrontal Cortex Regulates Sensory Filtering through a Basal Ganglia-to-Thalamus Pathway." Neuron, 103 (3).
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
To make adaptive decisions, organisms must appropriately filter sensory inputs, augmenting relevant signals and suppressing noise. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) partly implements this process by regulating thalamic activity through modality-specific thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) subnetworks. However, because the PFC does not directly project to sensory TRN subnetworks, the circuitry underlying this process had been unknown. Here, using anatomical tracing, functional manipulations, and optical identification of PFC projection neurons, we find that the PFC regulates sensory thalamic activity through a basal ganglia (BG) pathway. Engagement of this PFC-BG-thalamus pathway enables selection between vision and audition by primarily suppressing the distracting modality. This pathway also enhances sensory discrimination and is used for goal-directed background noise suppression. Overall, our results identify a new pathway for attentional filtering and reveal its multiple roles in sensory processing on the basis of internal goals. Making sense of a noisy world depends on active filtering of behaviorally relevant sensory information. Nakajima et al. illuminates a pathway that implements this function, demonstrating how control circuits regulate early sensory processing to suppress distractors and improve behaviorally relevant signals.
MIT Department
McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
10.1016/J.NEURON.2019.05.026
