biostudies-literatureHuang WANIMHNIMH NIH HHSUniversity of North Carolina WilmingtonNational Institutes of Health727-739.e5https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC10922762biostudies-literatureUnknown34(4)Sustained visual attention allows us to process and react to unpredictable, behaviorally relevant sensory input. Sustained attention engages communication between the higher-order visual thalamus and its connected cortical regions. However, it remains unclear whether there is a causal relationship between oscillatory circuit dynamics and attentional behavior in these thalamo-cortical circuits. By using rhythmic optogenetic stimulation in the ferret, we provide causal evidence that higher-order visual thalamus coordinates thalamo-cortical and cortico-cortical functional connectivity during sustained attention via spike-field phase locking. Increasing theta but not alpha power in the thalamus improved accuracy and reduced omission rates in a sustained attention task. Further, the enhancement of effective connectivity by stimulation was correlated with improved behavioral performance. Our work demonstrates a potential circuit-level causal mechanism for how the higher-order visual thalamus modulates cortical communication through rhythmic synchronization during sustained attention.Current biology : CBCausal oscillations in the visual thalamo-cortical network in sustained attention in ferrets.PMC10922762R01 MH124387R01MH122477F31 MH118799R01 MH111889F31MH118799R01MH111889R01MH124387R01 MH122477Stitt IMRadtke-Schuller SFrohlich FHuang WARamasamy NSZhou ZCfalseCausal oscillations in the visual thalamo-cortical network in sustained attention in ferrets.Sustained visual attention allows us to process and react to unpredictable, behaviorally relevant sensory input. Sustained attention engages communication between the higher-order visual thalamus and its connected cortical regions. However, it remains unclear whether there is a causal relationship between oscillatory circuit dynamics and attentional behavior in these thalamo-cortical circuits. By using rhythmic optogenetic stimulation in the ferret, we provide causal evidence that higher-order visual thalamus coordinates thalamo-cortical and cortico-cortical functional connectivity during sustained attention via spike-field phase locking. Increasing theta but not alpha power in the thalamus improved accuracy and reduced omission rates in a sustained attention task. Further, the enhancement of effective connectivity by stimulation was correlated with improved behavioral performance. Our work demonstrates a potential circuit-level causal mechanism for how the higher-order visual thalamus modulates cortical communication through rhythmic synchronization during sustained attention.2024-01-01T00:00:00Z2024 Feb2025-04-04T10:42:09.173Z2025-04-04T10:42:09.173ZS-EPMC109227623826241810.1016/j.cub.2023.12.067