Editorial: Role of the Thalamus in Motivated Behavior

In our collection, five articles exclusively focus on PVT. The original research article by Quiñones-Laracuente et al. examined the time-dependent recruitment of pre-limbic (PL) prefrontal inputs onto PVT following auditory fear learning. Together with evidence implicating rILN in arousal, pain, executive function, and action control, the authors propose a unique role of rILN in task-dependent behavioral engagement, such as goal valuation based on interceptive and external factors, action learning, expression and reinforcement. [...]discussion of afferents of each structure leads to the hypothesis that Pf and OFC together contribute to internal state representation during action selection either through direct Pf to OFC projections or convergence of their respective inputs onto striatal cholinergic interneurons. [...]Mair et al. discuss the roles of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and individual central thalamic nuclei (e.g., PVT, rILN, and MD) in delayed conditional discrimination tasks through lesion studies in rodents.