Table 1.

Functions and connections of the thalamic nuclei. (Based on Schmahmann, 2003; Herrero, Barcia, & Navarro, 2002; Behrens et al., 2003; Lambert, Simon, Colman, & Barrick, 2017; Hale et al., 2015; Kim, Park, & Park, 2013; Zhang et al., 2008; Zhang, Snyder, Shimony, Fox, & Raichle, 2010; Iglesias et al., 2018)

Nuclei	Structural grouping	Functional grouping	Connections	Functions
AV	Anterior	Limbic	Entorhinal cortex, hippocampus (subiculum), amygdala, mammillary body, insula, frontal and temporal pole, anterior cingulate, retrosplenial cortex, orbitofrontal and medial prefrontal cortices	Learning and memory, spatial navigation, emotion, drive, motivation, anomia
LD	Lateral	Limbic	Mammillary body, cingulate, retrosplenial cortex, hippocampus (subiculum), entorhinal cortex, orbitofrontal and medial prefrontal cortices, amygdala	Limbic (learning and memory, emotional experience and expression, drive, motivation)
LP	Lateral	Associative	Somatosensory cortex, posterior parietal cortex, posterior cingulate, amygdala, hippocampus, medial and dorsolateral extrastriate cortex, medial parahippocampal cortex	Higher‐order somatosensory and visual–spatial integration (e.g., goal‐directed reaching, conceptual and analytical thinking)
VA	Ventral	Motor/limbic	Motor, premotor and supplementary motor cortex, prefrontal cortex, amygdala, accumbens, anterior cingulate, posterior parietal cortex	Complex behaviours, motor programming, limbic (learning and memory, emotional experience and expression, drive, motivation)
VLa	Ventral	Motor	Primary motor and premotor cortex, cerebellum (dentate), insula, frontal operculum, brainstem, ventral mesencephalon, pallidum	Motor
VLp	Ventral	Motor	Primary motor and premotor cortex	Motor, articulation and language, encoding and retrieval of verbal and nonverbal information
VPL	Ventral	Specific sensory	Somatosensory (superior frontal gyrus, insula, brainstem)	Somatosensory
VM	Ventral	Motor	Visual and motor cortex	Motor
Intralaminar	Intralaminar	Intralaminar	Motor cortex, striatum, basal ganglia (putamen), prefrontal cortex, brainstem, spinal cord, cerebellum [predominantly to subcortical instead of cortical structures]	Sensorimotor, limbic, cognitive; attention, arousal, consciousness, memory, autonomic drive, motivation, affective components of pain, sending attention‐specific sensory information to the striatum for conditional responses
Midline	Medial	Associative	Amygdala, orbital, medial, and dorsal prefrontal cortex, brainstem, spinal cord, cerebellum, periaqueductal grey	Anterograde and recognition memory, cognition, habituation, olfaction, vegetative and endocrine circadian activities, autonomic drive, sending attention‐specific sensory information to the striatum for conditional responses, processing motivational‐affective components of nociceptive information
MD	Medial	Associative/limbic	Temporal, dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal, paralimbic regions (medial and orbital prefrontal cortex), amygdala, basal forebrain, olfactory and entorhinal cortex, motor and premotor cortex, anterior cingulate	Limbic, working memory, emotional regulation, behavior (inhibition, mood, perseveration), executive functions, vertical gaze (oculomotor control)
LGN	Posterior	Specific sensory	Occipital, parietal cortex ‐ primary visual cortex	Relay in the visual system
MGN	Posterior	Specific sensory	Temporal cortex ‐ primary auditory cortex	Relay in the auditory system
Pulvinar	Posterior	Associative/limbic	Prefrontal, posterior parietal, temporal, occipital and parietal cortex, hippocampus, amygdala, frontal operculum, anterior cingulate, insula, parahippocampal cortex, superior colliculi	Hallucination, visual attention, language, intramodality integration of somatosensory and visual information, pain appreciation, limbic, affective and psychotic symptoms