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Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences logoLink to Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
. 2002 Dec 29;357(1428):1753–1758. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2002.1175

Dynamic shifting in thalamocortical processing during different behavioural states.

Miguel A L Nicolelis 1, Erika E Fanselow 1
PMCID: PMC1693080  PMID: 12626009

Abstract

Recent experiments in our laboratory have indicated that as rats shift the behavioural strategy employed to explore their surrounding environment, there is a parallel change in the physiological properties of the neuronal ensembles that define the main thalamocortical loop of the trigeminal somatosensory system. Based on experimental evidence from several laboratories, we propose that this concurrent shift in behavioural strategy and thalamocortical physiological properties provides rats with an efficient way to optimize either the detection or analysis of complex tactile stimuli.

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Selected References

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