Understanding the thalamus's role in thinking and attention
Cognitive Thalamus
The team will map how the thalamus helps attention and other thinking skills using brain scans and recordings in people and animals.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Princeton University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Princeton, UNITED STATES) |
| Project ID | NIH-11326827 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
This center brings together multiple labs to learn how the thalamus contributes to attention and other cognitive abilities. Researchers will combine brain imaging from people (including healthy volunteers and clinical participants) with electrical recordings from animal models to build computational, biologically plausible models of thalamic function. The center includes administrative and data-sharing cores that coordinate projects across eight institutions and promote training and public outreach. Results and data will be shared with the scientific community to speed follow-up research.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are adults with neurological or psychiatric conditions that affect attention, memory, or other cognitive functions, as well as healthy volunteers for comparison.
Not a fit: Patients seeking immediate treatment or symptom relief should not expect direct clinical benefit from this primarily basic and translational research center.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could improve understanding of cognitive symptoms in brain disorders and help guide future diagnostic tools or treatments.
How similar studies have performed: Previous brain-imaging and animal electrophysiology studies have advanced knowledge of thalamic circuits, but this integrated, multi-method center aims to unify those approaches into a comprehensive model, which is relatively novel.
Where this research is happening
Princeton, UNITED STATES
- Princeton University — Princeton, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Kastner, Sabine — Princeton University
- Study coordinator: Kastner, Sabine
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.