THALAMUS

, plural Thalami, either of a pair of large, ovoid organs that form most of the lateral (side) walls of the third ventricle of the brain. It is a major structure of the diencephalon (the interbrain; one of the five sections of the brain). Located between the brain stem and the forebrain, the thalamus is associated with the epithalamus (containing the habenula and the pineal body) and the hypothalamus (associated with the autonomic nervous system). The thalamus has two important functions. It translates neural impulses from various receptors to the cerebral cortex, where they are experienced as the appropriate sensations of touch, pain, and temperature during the waking state; and it regulates synaptic transmissions (i.e., incoming impulses) during resting states. The latter activity consists of interspersing burst discharges with long periods of neuronal inactivity, or silence.