Temporal lobe epilepsy: decreased thalamic resting-state functional connectivity and their relationships with alertness performance.

•The thalamic resting-state functional networks of patients with rTLE are disrupted.•The thalamus ipsilateral to the epileptogenic focus exhibits greater damage in patients with rTLE.•Only the intrinsic and phasic alertness performances of patients with rTLE are impaired.•Decreased thalamic FC is negatively correlated with alertness effect performance in patients with rTLE.