The neural pathways that convey conditioned stimulus (CS) information to the cerebellum during eyeblink conditioning have not been fully delineated. It is well established that pontine mossy fiber inputs to the cerebellum convey CS-related stimulation for different sensory modalities (e.g., auditory, visual, tactile). Less is known about the sources of sensory input to the pons that are important for eyeblink conditioning. The first experiment of the current study was designed to determine whether electrical stimulation of the medial auditory thalamic nuclei is a sufficient CS for establishing eyeblink conditioning in rats. The second experiment used anterograde and retrograde tract tracing techniques to assess neuroanatomical connections between the medial auditory thalamus and pontine nuclei. Stimulation of the medial auditory thalamus was a very effective CS for eyeblink conditioning in rats, and the medial auditory thalamus has direct ipsilateral projections to the pontine nuclei. The results suggest that the medial auditory thalamic nuclei and their projections to the pontine nuclei are components of the auditory CS pathway in eyeblink conditioning.A primary emphasis in neurobiological analyses of Pavlovian eyeblink conditioning has been on identifying the anatomical sites and cellular mechanisms of memory storage (Christian and Thompson 2003;Thompson 2005). Less emphasis has been placed on identifying the neural pathways that conduct stimulation from conditioned stimuli to the sites of memory induction and retention. The cerebellum is the anatomical site of memory storage in Pavlovian eyeblink (eyelid and nictitating membrane movement) conditioning (Christian and Thompson 2003;Thompson 2005;Ohyama et al. 2006). Cerebellar function may be influenced by processes occurring within its sensory input pathways, interactions among components of the input pathways, and sources of feedback to the input pathways (Clark et al. 1997;Bao et al. 2000;Medina et al. 2002). A full characterization of the sensory input pathways to the cerebellum necessary for motor learning is, therefore, critical for developing a comprehensive understanding of cerebellar function. Identification of sensory input pathways to the cerebellum is also critical for elucidating the mechanisms underlying the ontogeny of motor learning (Freeman et al. 2005).Several key components of the conditioned stimulus (CS) pathway in eyeblink conditioning have been identified using lesion, inactivation, unit recording, stimulation, and tract tracing techniques (Steinmetz et al. 1986(Steinmetz et al. , 1987(Steinmetz et al. , 1989Lewis et al. 1987;Knowlton and Thompson 1988;Steinmetz 1990;Steinmetz and Sengelaub 1992;Gould et al. 1993;Tracy et al. 1998;Hesslow et al. 1999;Bao et al. 2000;Freeman and Rabinak 2004;Freeman et al. 2005). The pontine mossy fiber projection to the cerebellum is necessary for eyeblink conditioning with CSs of different modalities and stimulation of the pontine nuclei or the middle cerebellar peduncle is sufficient for eyeblink condit...