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Theta-rhythmic dynamics in human thalamus and cortex during cued visuospatial attention

Poster Session C - Sunday, March 8, 2026, 5:00 – 7:00 pm PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Emily Cunningham¹, Cindy Lustig¹, William Stacey¹, David Brang¹; ¹University of Michigan

Rhythmic oscillations in visuospatial detection have been linked to theta-rhythmic (3-7 Hz) oscillatory activity in macaque pulvinar and human anterior thalamic nuclei, contributing to theories that input from the thalamus might coordinate attentional networks responsible for rhythmic sampling of the environment. Here we extend these observations to include the human pulvinar, describing the relation between thalamic and cortical oscillatory phase and visuomotor reaction time (RT) using intracranial thalamic sEEG in patients with epilepsy (N = 6). Each patient performed one or more sessions of a cued visuospatial task that involved searching for a small visual target in a constantly updating array of nontarget stimuli. The principal hypothesis was that the phase of pulvinar theta-rhythmic activity should be linked to periods of relatively impaired/enhanced performance, consistent with alternation between attentional engagement/disengagement at a given spatial location. Although performance on the task was strong (accuracy: 96 +/- 3.3%), evidence for theta-rhythmic phase-RT coupling within the thalamus was mixed. Statistically robust, theta-specific phase-RT coupling was observed only among the most medial contacts within both pulvinar and anterior thalamus. In cortical contacts, theta-rhythmic oscillatory peaks and theta-band phase-RT coupling were most prominent in frontoparietal sites, as in previous reports. Overall, these data provide preliminary evidence for theta-rhythmic phase-RT coupling in the mediodorsal pulvinar, consistent with evidence for rhythmic sampling from the pulvinar of the macaque. However, the presence of similar effects in pulvinar and anterior thalamus, together with the reduced SNR in thalamus relative to cortex, highlight the need for further investigation.

Topic Area: ATTENTION: Spatial