ArticleNature neuroscience2017
Thalamic projections sustain prefrontal activity during working memory maintenance.
Article in Nature neuroscience, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 313 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
313 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Functional brain abnormalities of cognitive impairments in schizophrenia indicating higher integration of working memory than other domains.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- An ALE meta-analysis on the effects of neural changes due to exercise on executive function in a healthy population.Scientific reports · 2025Pooled it
- Quantifying the inverted U: A meta-analysis of prefrontal dopamine, D1 receptors, and working memory.Behavioral neuroscience · 2022Pooled it
- Ethnicity, minority status, and inter-group bias: A systematic meta-analysis on fMRI studies.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2022Pooled it
- Editorial: From causal circuit mapping to clinical translation: Prefronto-thalamic hypoconnectivity in schizophrenia.PCN reports : psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2026Article
- Prefrontal gamma oscillations engage dynamic cell-type-specific configurations to support flexible behavior.Neuron · 2026Article
- Synthetic cannabinoid-induced changes in thalamo-prefrontal gamma synchrony and thalamic high-voltage spindles.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Loss of Fmr1 causes subnucleus-specific decreases in dendritic complexity in mediodorsal thalamus.Brain structure & function · 2026Article
- Synaptic plasticity of prefrontal long-range inhibition regulates cognitive flexibility.Neuron · 2026Article
- The deficit of oligodendrocyte family cells in layer 3 of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in schizophrenia: possible interactions with dysfunction and altered microanatomy.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Article
- Thalamofrontal synaptic weakening underlies short-term memory deficits from adolescent NMDAR hypofunction.Science advances · 2026Article
- Lipid Activation of a Thalamic GPCR Extends Working Memory Time-scales.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Retinal Origins of Aberrant Salience in Schizophrenia: The Perceptual Theory.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2026Review
- Altered thalamo-prefrontal synchrony dynamics during spatial working memory task performance in a SETD1A loss-of-function mouse model of schizophrenia predisposition.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Control of associative learning by the mediodorsal thalamus-orbitofrontal cortex circuit.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Anterior cingulate cortex monitors action state and action content in complex associative learning.eLife · 2026Article
- Chronic exposure to LED lighting impairs prefrontal cortex-dependent cognitive functions in adolescent rats.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Dissociable Thalamocortical Circuit Disruptions During Contextual Fear Renewal in PTSD.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Independence and coherence in temporal sequence computation across the fronto-parietal network.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Prefrontal parvalbumin neurons mediate working memory in a task demand-dependent manner.Nature communications · 2026Article
253 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The mediodorsal thalamus (MD) shares reciprocal connectivity with the prefrontal cortex (PFC), and decreased MD-PFC connectivity is observed in schizophrenia patients. Patients also display cognitive deficits including impairments in working memory, but a mechanistic link between thalamo-prefrontal circuit function and working memory is missing. Using pathway-specific inhibition, we found directional interactions between mouse MD and medial PFC (mPFC), with MD-to-mPFC supporting working memory maintenance and mPFC-to-MD supporting subsequent choice. We further identify mPFC neurons that display elevated spiking during the delay, a feature that was absent on error trials and required MD inputs for sustained maintenance. Strikingly, delay-tuned neurons had minimal overlap with spatially tuned neurons, and each mPFC population exhibited mutually exclusive dependence on MD and hippocampal inputs. These findings indicate a role for MD in sustaining prefrontal activity during working memory maintenance. Consistent with this idea, we found that enhancing MD excitability was sufficient to enhance task performance.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.