We have induced, by appropriate surgery in newborn ferrets, retinal projections into the medial geniculate nucleus, the principal auditory thalamic nucleus. In operated animals studied as adults, retinal ganglion cells that give rise to the projection have small and medium sized somata and heterogeneous dendrite morphologies. Each retina projects to the auditory thalamus in patchy fashion. Various nuclei in auditory thalamus project normally to auditory cortex. Visual cells in auditory thalamus have circular receptive fields and receive input from slowly conducting afferents characteristic of retinal W cells. Many visual cells in primary auditory cortex have oriented receptive fields that resemble those of complex cells in striate cortex. Primary auditory cortex also contains a two dimensional visual field map. Our results carry several implications for sensory cortical function. A parsimonious explanation for the visual receptive field properties in auditory cortex is that sensory cortex carries out certain stereotypical transformations on input regardless of modality. The response features of visual cells and the two dimensional visual field map in primary auditory cortex appear to be products of adaptive organization arising from a highly divergent thalamocortical projection characteristic of the auditory system. Show
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Rights and permissionsReprints and Permissions Copyright information© 1989 Springer-Verlag New York Inc. About this paperCite this paperSur, M. (1989). Visual Plasticity in the Auditory Pathway: Visual Inputs Induced into Auditory Thalamus and Cortex Illustrate Principles of Adaptive Organization in Sensory Systems. In: Arbib, M.A., Amari, Si. (eds) Dynamic Interactions in Neural Networks: Models and Data. Research Notes in Neural Computing, vol 1. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4536-0_3 Where does the thalamus sends auditory information?The next stop for sound processing is the thalamus. Located just above the brainstem, the thalamus is the brain's relay station for incoming sensory information. Then the information travels to the auditory part of the cerebral cortex.
Does auditory information go through the thalamus?Despite the parallel pathways in the auditory stations of the brainstem and midbrain, the medial geniculate complex (MGC) in the thalamus is an obligatory relay for all ascending auditory information destined for the cortex (see Figure 13.11).
Does the thalamus receive information from the visual cortex?In the visual system, the thalamus receives input from the retina, which is relayed to the brain via the optic nerve. Signals are sent to the lateral geniculate nucleus of the thalamus which then forwards them onto the primary visual cortex (area V1) in the occipital lobe.
Is the primary auditory cortex in the thalamus?For this reason, it makes sense of information processed in multiple stages in the brainstem and the thalamus. Primary auditory cortex is found on the transverse gyri of Heschl, located on the superior temporal plane within the Sylvian fissure.
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