Unified principles of thalamocortical network dynamics: A framework for typical/atypical functional connectivity

Abstract

In more recent years, there has been increased interest in understanding the brain's functional connectivity within local and long-range networks. The structure and functional dynamics connectivity at the cortical level has received considerable attention, the structural and functional dynamics of thalamocortical interactions are as yet insufficiently integrated with our knowledge of large-scale connectivity and regional function. An important question, yet to be answered in detail, is how typical cognitive functions and their alterations in neuropsychiatric pathologies are temporally generated across the entire brain space (thalamocortical, corticocortical, corticothalamic) based on intact or altered brain structure, function, and neurochemistry. We are reviewing MEG and related EEG research in the context of multimodal imaging findings, focusing on thalamocortical dynamics and their role in functional connectivity across corticocortical, and corticothalamic circuits, including oscillatory synchronization within and across the various frequency bands underlying cognition. We then further explore the cognitive consequences of various disruptions of thalamocortical and corticocortical dynamics, including slowing and selective loss of functional network dynamics in particular brain networks related to disabilities or neuropsychiatric pathologies. We are presenting an overview of current findings and their conceptual implications for how brain imaging technologies can further contribute to a better understanding of the unified principles of the brain's structural, functional, and temporal connectivity dynamics and their relationship to typical and atypical sensory-motor processing and cognition including consciousness.