The Cerebral Cortex and Thalamus

For the first time, Drs. Usrey and Sherman, along with a who's who of luminaries in neuroscience research, seek to codify the roles that the cortex and thalamus and their interdependence on each other play for sensation, action, and cognition. The thalamus, in addition, has often been treated as a minor, rather insignificant player in cortical functioning. In the not too distant past, the thalamus was considered a rather boring, machine-like relay of subcortical information to the cortex. Over the past decade, there has been a groundswell of new and renewed interest in the thalamus and thalamocortical interactions, leading to discoveries demonstrating the thalamus's ongoing and essential role in cortical functioning and, likewise, the significance of the cortex for thalamic functioning.

The Cerebral Cortex and Thalamus is a groundbreaking volume bringing together a cohesive account of cortical and thalamic mechanisms for control of behavior with an emphasis on the importance of interactions between the two structures. The book elucidates the research that makes it increasingly clear that the cortex and thalamus are necessary partners for sensory, motor, and cognitive functions. Interactions between thalamus and cortex are not only essential for proper brain function, they are also sensitive to a range of diseases that can have devastating consequences on individuals and society. An essential text for graduate students, early career investigators, and investigators looking to shift their research focus, The Cerebral Cortex and Thalamus is organized into topical sections covering circuit properties of thalamus and cortex, thalamocortical and corticothalamic motifs, sensory systems, motor systems, interareal cortical communication, cognitive properties, development and plasticity, evolution, computation, and disease.


About the Author
W. Martin Usrey, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior and Professor of Neurology at UC Davis. His research is focused on understanding the functional properties of neural circuits that serve vision and the relationship between circuit activity, behavior, and perception. He has authored over 70 publications and directed several international courses and conferences on sensory processing and thalamocortical relations. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The Usrey laboratory is home to Brainmaps.org, an interactive, high-resolution digital brain atlas and virtual microscope for students, educators, and researchers. He is also editor of sensory systems for the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Neuroscience.

S. Murray Sherman, Ph.D., is Maurice Goldblatt Professor and Chairman in the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Chicago. His books include Exploring the Thalamus, Exploring the Thalamus and its Role in Cortical Function, Functional Connections of Cortical Areas: A New View from the Thalamus, and Exploring Thalamocortical Interactions: Circuitry for Sensation, Action, and Cognition. Dr. Sherman is the author of more than 250 scientific papers, has served on the committees of several scientific organizations and on the editorial boards of multiple journals, and is Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. He has held visiting academic positions at universities in the UK and China. The main focus of Dr. Sherman's research is directed towards understanding thalamic functional organization through a variety of interdisciplinary techniques.