9 ▁publication ▁in ▁Ne ur on , ▁Bus se ▁and ▁her ▁colle agues ▁at ▁T üb ingen ▁shed ▁light ▁on ▁the ▁mechan isms ▁by ▁which ▁the ▁large ▁degree ▁of ▁visual ▁information ▁coming ▁in ▁from ▁the ▁ret ina ▁is ▁processed ▁and ▁transferred ▁in ▁a ▁manage able ▁way ▁to ▁the ▁visual ▁cor tex . ▁Gang l ion ▁cells ▁are ▁the ▁first ▁cells ▁to ▁receive ▁the ▁image ▁information ▁from ▁the ▁ret ina , ▁and ▁they ▁pass ▁this ▁information ▁along ▁to ▁the ▁th al am us , ▁where ▁Bus se ▁and ▁her ▁colle agues ▁think ▁there ▁might ▁be ▁a ▁pre - processing ▁step ▁before ▁this ▁information ▁is ▁rout ed ▁to ▁the ▁cor tex . ▁To ▁test ▁this ▁hypothesis , ▁Bus se ▁and ▁her ▁colle agues ▁recorded ▁from ▁ret inal ▁cells ▁and ▁th al am ic ▁cells ▁and ▁then ▁used ▁computational ▁mod elling ▁to ▁see ▁which ▁ret inal ▁cells ▁contribute ▁to ▁the ▁responses ▁of ▁th al am ic ▁cells . ▁F asc in ating ly , ▁they ▁found ▁that ▁the ▁output ▁of ▁one ▁th al am ic ▁cell ▁re lies ▁on ▁no ▁more ▁than ▁ 5 ▁ret inal ▁cells , ▁and ▁that ▁though ▁these ▁ret inal ▁inputs ▁are ▁combined ▁to ▁generate ▁an ▁output , ▁they ▁are ▁not ▁given ▁equal ▁weights . ▁Their ▁work ▁highlight ed ▁the ▁active ▁role ▁of ▁the ▁th al am us ▁in ▁signal ▁processing , ▁not ▁just ▁signal ▁relay ing ▁as ▁is ▁thought ▁to ▁be ▁the ▁canonical ▁function ▁of ▁the ▁th al am us . ▁ ▁Awards ▁and ▁Hon ors ▁▁▁▁ 2 0 0 9