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. | 1. | Anatomy. the middle part of the diencephalon through which sensory impulses pass to reach the cerebral cortex. |
| 2. | Botany. a receptacle or torus. |
| 3. | Also called thalamium. an apartment for women in an ancient Greek house. |
thalamus thal·a·mus (thāl'ə-məs)
n. pl. thal·a·mi (-mī')
A large ovoid mass of gray matter that forms the larger dorsal subdivision of the diencephalon and is located medial to the internal capsule and to the body and tail of the caudate nucleus. It functions in the relay of sensory impulses to the cerebral cortex.
| thalamus (thāl'ə-məs) Pronunciation Key
Plural thalami (thāl'ə-mī') The part of the vertebrate brain that lies at the rear of the forebrain. It relays sensory information to the cerebral cortex and regulates the perception of touch, pain, and temperature. |
thalamus
either of a pair of large, ovoid organs that form most of the lateral walls of the third ventricle of the brain. The thalamus translates neural impulses from various receptors to the cerebral cortex, where they are experienced as the appropriate sensations of touch, pain, or temperature, during the waking state, and it regulates synaptic transmissions (i.e., incoming impulses) during resting states.
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