ArticlePLoS computational biology2022
Thalamic regulation of frontal interactions in human cognitive flexibility.
Article in PLoS computational biology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers.
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24 citing papers in PubMed, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Through Massage to the Brain-Neuronal and Neuroplastic Mechanisms of Massage Based on Various Neuroimaging Techniques (EEG, fMRI, and fNIRS).Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- The neural basis for uncertainty processing in hierarchical decision making.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Thalamic regulation of reinforcement learning strategies across prefrontal-striatal networks.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Microbial modulators of the mind: probiotic interventions in hippocampal neurogenesis and cognitive flexibility.Antonie van Leeuwenhoek · 2025Review
- Practice reshapes the geometry and dynamics of task-tailored representations.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2025Article
- Neural Representation of Associative Threat Learning in Pulvinar Divisions, Lateral Geniculate Nucleus, and Mediodorsal Thalamus in Humans.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Developing algorithmic psychiatry via multi-level spanning computational models.Cell reports. Medicine · 2025Review
- Identifying Features of Resilience to Childhood Maltreatment in Resting-State Connectivity Data From Adults With and Without a History of Mood Disorder.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2025Article
- Mediodorsal thalamus regulates task uncertainty to enable cognitive flexibility.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Hierarchical gradients of multiple timescales in the mammalian forebrain.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- The thalamus encodes and updates context representations during hierarchical cognitive control.PLoS biology · 2024Article
- A prefrontal thalamocortical readout for conflict-related executive dysfunction in schizophrenia.Cell reports. Medicine · 2024Article
- Thalamic Volumes and Functional Networks Linked With Self-Regulation Dysfunction in Major Depressive Disorder.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2024Article
- Rapid context inference in a thalamocortical model using recurrent neural networks.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Practice Reshapes the Geometry and Dynamics of Task-tailored Representations.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Thalamocortical architectures for flexible cognition and efficient learning.Trends in cognitive sciences · 2024Review
- Article
- Neural mechanisms of domain-general inhibitory control.Trends in cognitive sciences · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Interactions across frontal cortex are critical for cognition. Animal studies suggest a role for mediodorsal thalamus (MD) in these interactions, but the computations performed and direct relevance to human decision making are unclear. Here, inspired by animal work, we extended a neural model of an executive frontal-MD network and trained it on a human decision-making task for which neuroimaging data were collected. Using a biologically-plausible learning rule, we found that the model MD thalamus compressed its cortical inputs (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, dlPFC) underlying stimulus-response representations. Through direct feedback to dlPFC, this thalamic operation efficiently partitioned cortical activity patterns and enhanced task switching across different contingencies. To account for interactions with other frontal regions, we expanded the model to compute higher-order strategy signals outside dlPFC, and found that the MD offered a more efficient route for such signals to switch dlPFC activity patterns. Human fMRI data provided evidence that the MD engaged in feedback to dlPFC, and had a role in routing orbitofrontal cortex inputs when subjects switched behavioral strategy. Collectively, our findings contribute to the emerging evidence for thalamic regulation of frontal interactions in the human brain.
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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.