"Sherman and Guillery are both pioneers of research on the thalamus. Together they have come up with a work that I consider a paragon of its type. It is factual, informative, well documented, and thought provoking, and will be most useful to students and researchers alike."
-- Mike Gutnick, Professor of Neurobiology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The thalamus plays a critical role in perceptual processing, but many questions remain about what thalamic activities contribute to sensory and motor functions. In this book, two pioneers in research on the thalamus examine the close two-way relationships between thalamus and cerebral cortex and look at the distinctive functions of the links between the thalamus and the rest of the brain. Countering the dominant "corticocentric" approach to understanding the cerebral cortex-which does not recognize that all neocortical areas receive important inputs from the thalamus and send outputs to lower motor centers- S. Murray Sherman and R. W. Guillery argue for a reappraisal of the way we think about the cortex and its interactions with the rest of the brain.