RORβ is a key layer 4 transcription factor orchestrating a critical juncture in barrel development where terminal differentiation and activity inputs are integrated to drive cellular organization in the cortex.

New evidence challenges the long-held view that motor cortex lacks a fourth layer, and reveals that its circuitry resembles that of other cortical regions more than previously thought.

Layer 4 neuronal identity is specified by Protocadherin20 positioning the neurons into layer 4 so that they receive a positional cue from thalamocortical axons.

Neocortical synapses in layer 4 of the human temporal lobe neocortex were quantitatively characterized, at the subcellular level, using high-end, high-resolution electron microscopy and 3D-volume reconstructions.

Touch information is represented with minimal noise in the somatosensory cortex during tactile exploration.

Layers 1 and 3b/4 of auditory cortex receive surprisingly heterogeneous but tonotopically matching input from the thalamus.

The binocular matching of thalamic inputs to layer 4 cortical neurons initiates before that of intracortical inputs.

In the visual system, three rules guide the thalamocortical connectivity of cortical fast-spike interneurons and are key to understand the potent and broadly tuned feed-forward inhibition that they generate.

The three main types of inhibitory neurons in mouse primary visual cortex respond differently to locomotion in darkness and during visual stimulation, revealing context-dependent responses to changes in behavioral state.

Cell-type-specific circuit analysis reveals a highly polysynaptic pattern of excitatory feedforward connections along the somatosensory-to-motor loop, from cuneate via VPL thalamus to S1 and M1 cortex and corticospinal neurons.