the.com/thalamus
The brain's switchboard operator, relaying every sense but smell straight to consciousness.
means A pair of egg-shaped masses of gray matter deep in the brain that sort and route incoming sensory signals to the right parts of the cortex.
from From Greek 'thalamos,' meaning inner chamber or bedroom — the anatomist who named it saw the structure as a kind of hidden inner room deep within the brain's architecture, tucked away from view like a private chamber in a house.
- shape origin
- Greek for inner chamber or bridal bed
- smell exception
- Olfactory signals skip it entirely
- sleep gatekeeper
- Filters sensory input during deep sleep stages
- size
- Two walnut-sized lobes deep in forebrain