Sensory thalamus function, plasticity and neuromodulation in health and disease

For each of the many sensory channels through which animals perceive the world, sensory thalamus is an important processing station whose role lies between faithful stimulus encoding and cognitive interpretation. Located deep in the brain, sensory thalamus neurons must receive and transmit peripheral information reliably, while modulating it based on valence, internal states and memory from previous experience. It has to speak to the neocortex with the appropriate volume, and in an orderly way, to prioritize attention to what matters most in each circumstance. In this review, we recapitulate classic and recent findings on the sensory thalamus, and how its plasticity and modulation allow it to provide a basis not only for perception, but also memory and cognition. Finally, we discuss how alterations in sensory thalamus may underlie pathogenesis or contribute to specific symptoms of cognitive and neuropsychiatric disorders.