An intrinsic hierarchical, retinotopic organization of pulvinar connectivity in the human neonate

Thalamic connectivity is crucial for the development of the neocortex. The pulvinar nuclei are thought to be particularly important for visual development due to their involvement in various functions that emerge early in infancy. The development of these connections constrains the role the pulvinar plays in infant visual processing and the maturation of associated cortical networks. However, the extent to which pulvino-cortical pathways found in adults are established at birth remains largely unknown, limiting our understanding of how these thalamic connections may support infant vision. To address this gap, we examined the organization of pulvino-cortical connections in human neonates using probabilistic tractography analyses on diffusion imaging data. Our findings revealed the presence of white matter pathways between the pulvinar and each individual visual area at birth. These pathways exhibited specificity in their connectivity within the pulvinar, reflecting both intraareal retinotopic organization and the hierarchical organization across ventral, lateral, and dorsal visual cortical pathways. These connections could enable detailed processing of information across sensory space and communication along distinct processing pathways. Comparative analyses revealed that the large-scale organization of pulvino-cortical connectivity in neonates mirrored that of adults. However, connectivity with ventral visual cortex was less adult-like than the other cortical pathways, aligning with prior findings of protracted development associated with the visual recognition pathway. These results deepen our understanding of the developmental trajectory of thalamocortical connections and provide a framework for how subcortical structures may support early perceptual abilities and scaffold the development of cortex.