AUTHOR=Ethier Christian , Vaziri Zohreh , Deschênes Martin 

TITLE=Polysemia as a concept to understand the encoding of sensory information

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 19 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2025.1588437

DOI=10.3389/fnins.2025.1588437

ISSN=1662-453X

ABSTRACT=In this article, we explore the concept of polysemia in sensory information processing within the brain. We suggest that, just as words can have different meanings based on context, sensory inputs are interpreted differently depending on the animal’s current state and behavior. Focusing on the trigeminal sensory nuclei in rats, we highlight the role of inhibitory circuits in gating sensory information and propose that sensory signals are polysemic, with their meaning influenced by emotional, hormonal, and motivational factors.