Synchronized oscillations at both low (α/θ) (4–7/8–13 Hz) and high (β/γ) (18–35/30–70 Hz) frequencies have close links with a variety of cognitive and perceptual phenomena. Whilst such oscillations are known to involve the thalamus, very little is known about the way in which thalamic neurons engage in and promote oscillatory activity. We have shown here how, under certain conditions, TC neurons in a variety of nuclei and species can display several types of intrinsic oscillatory activity which have previously gone largely unrecognised (Sherman 2001; Llinás and Steriade 2006). In particular, TC neurons are able to generate two distinct types of rhythmic HT bursting at α/θ frequencies following either mGluR or mAchR activation, respectively, and can show a ~40 Hz activity, similar to the FRB behaviour of some layer II/III neocortical pyramidal cells (Brumberg et al. 2000; Traub et al. 2003; Cunningham et al. 2004), following a suppression of BK channels. Whilst intrinsic oscillatory activity is also a common and important feature of other brain areas, we propose that these novel modes of operation of TC neurons may be a key
