Visual dominance over tactile and auditory processing in human medial pulvinar

Optimal processing of our environment relies on the integration of information across sensory modalities. The pulvinar is known to play a key role in visual and face processing, but its involvement in auditory and tactile domains remains poorly understood. Here, we used fMRI localizer tasks to characterize pulvinar functional organization and connectivity during face, voice, and tactile processing. We reproduce the activation of the ventro-medial pulvinar during face perception and describe condition-dependent changes in pulvinar connectivity with face-processing areas, together with reduced connectivity with early visual and default mode network regions. Small clusters overlapping the medial pulvinar were also observed during air-puff stimulation of the face, hand, and foot, accompanied by condition-dependent changes in pulvino-cortical connectivity as a function of the stimulated body part, although these effects were detected at exploratory statistical thresholds. No reliable positive pulvinar activation was detected during voice or non-voice stimulation within the sensitivity limits of the present paradigm. Overall, these results highlight robust visual pulvinar responses and suggest a possible, but preliminary, involvement of the medial pulvinar in tactile processing, together with context-dependent patterns of functional connectivity with cortical areas.