[Verse 1] Down in the thalamus, relay stations hum, VPL and VPM, the body's telegram, Wired straight to area three-b and to one, Touch and pressure landing where the mapping's done. Behind that line, the superior nucleus waits, Feeding three-a the joint and muscle states, Proprioception whispered through that narrow door, While VPI slips sideways to SII and the operculum floor. [Chorus] Gateways, gateways, thalamic relay, Switchboard of the brain lighting up the parietal way, VP to three-three-b-one, VPI's detour too, Pulvinar's the usher pulling posterior cortex through. [Verse 2] Now travel further back where the posterior fields ignite, Pulvinar and lateral posterior feeding appetite For vision, space, and reaching — Schmahmann and Pandya saw Baleydier and Mauguière confirmed the wiring law. Medial pulvinar climbs to the inferior parietal lobe, Lighting up seven-a, LIP, and PG like a floodlit globe, While lateral posterior nucleus takes the northern road, Feeding area five and the superior parietal load. [Chorus] Gateways, gateways, thalamic relay, Switchboard of the brain lighting up the parietal way, Medial pulvinar to seven-a, LP to five, Two thalamic rivers keep posterior cortex alive. [Verse 3] Wilke, Turchi, Leopold, two-thousand-ten, Nat Neurosci, Silenced the dorsal pulvinar, watched attention go amiss, Extinction-like neglect, the far side disappears, Proof the pulvinar steers the spotlight, calms the fears. Then Arcaro, Pinsk, and Kastner mapped the human terrain, Topography connecting pulvinar to parietal domain, Each patch of cortex pairs with its own thalamic twin, A mirrored atlas drawn in firing deep within. [Bridge] Intralaminar whispers, mediodorsal hums, Anterior nucleus adds the limbic drums, Precuneus and cingulate catch the arousal spark, Context and emotion lighting cortex in the dark. Sherman and Guillery ask: who's driving, who modulates? Transthalamic cortico-pulvino-cortical gates, A parallel pathway, cortex talking 'round the bend, Not just point to point, but a loop without an end. [Verse 4] From thalamus to cortex and back again it flows, A six-layered conversation only circuitry knows, Layer four receives the signal, layer five sends it home, Corticothalamic axons never leave the loop alone. Feedback and feedforward weaving through the deep terrain, Oscillations binding cortex in a rhythmic chain, Alpha waves and spindles synchronize the call, The thalamus the keystone holding up the cortical wall. [Chorus] Gateways, gateways, thalamic relay, Switchboard of the brain lighting up the parietal way, Driver or modulator, the pulvinar decides, Routing parietal knowledge on its transthalamic rides. [Outro] VPL, VPM, three-b and one, VPI, three-a, the proprioceptive run, Pulvinar, LP, the posterior gate — Thalamic gateways, that's how we navigate.
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