Grant: Operating Grant

It is generally considered that the visual images that we are seeing are analysed by a number of areas of the cortex, leading to a coherent perception of the external world. This dogma has been challenged in recent years. There is now evidence that subcortical structures located in the thalamus are also involved in the complex processing yielding the perception of the visual world. My laboratory explores the possibility that neurons in the largest thalamic nucleus, the pulvinar, contribute to our capacity to analyse the various aspects of the visual environment, in close relation with cortical areas. This work is important not only to understand how our brain can recognize an image (yielding the appropriate behaviour) but also to understand pathologies which affect the communication between the cortex and the thalamus, such as in schizophrenia.