Topic: thalamic afferents

Recent developments in experimental techniques have enabled simultaneous recordings from thousands of neurons, enabling the study of functional cell assemblies. However, determining the patterns of synaptic connectivity giving rise to assemblies remains challenging. To address this, we developed a complementary simulation-based approach, using a detailed, large-scale cortical network model. Using a combination of established methods we detected functional cell assemblies from the stimulus-evoked spiking activity of 185’000 neurons. Then, we studied how the structure of connectivity influences

Memories are evolving constructs prone to modifications. Here, we explore the temporal rules that determine whether memories are associated, by cooperation, or selected and lost, by competition. To tackle this question, we have built a conceptual model of the rules underlying synaptic cooperation and competition between the cortical and thalamic afferents to projection neurons of the lateral amygdala (LA), a circuit necessary for the formation of fear-conditioning memories. We found that heterosynaptic cooperation and competition between thalamic and cortical inputs to the LA follow a strict t