Electrophysiological Brain Connectivity and Subjective States Evoked by Electrical Stimulation of the Human Mid-thalamus.
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience June 3, 2026 Sofia Pantis, Masaya Togo, Dian Lyu et al.
Direct electrical stimulation of the mid-thalamus, near the mediodorsal nucleus, alters conscious experience and reveals asymmetric brain connectivity. In 30 patients with focal epilepsy, 50 Hz stimulation changed conscious experience in 11 of 12 patients, producing visceral, emotional, or somatosensory sensations, often unpleasant. Single-pulse 0.5 Hz stimulation showed strong electrophysiological connectivity between the mid-thalamus and the insula, anterior and midcingulate, prefrontal cortices, and medial temporal lobe. Inflow signals from some cortical sites to the mid-thalamus were significantly stronger than outflow, indicating a clear directional asymmetry in thalamocortical connectivity.