From ventral-medial to dorsal-lateral striatum: Neural correlates of reward-guided decision-making

Abstract

The striatum is critical for reward-guided and habitual behavior. Anatomical and interference studies suggest a functional heterogeneity within striatum. Medial regions, such as nucleus accumbens core and dorsal medial striatum play roles in goal-directed behavior, while dorsal lateral striatum is critical for control of habitual action. Subdivisions of striatum are topographically connected with different cortical and subcortical structures forming channels that carry information related to limbic, associative, and sensorimotor functions. Here, we describe data showing that as one progresses from ventral-medial to dorsal-lateral striatum, there is a shift from more prominent value encoding to activity more closely related to associative and motor aspects of decision-making. In addition, we will describe data suggesting that striatal circuits work in parallel to control behavior and that regions within striatum can compensate for each other when functions are disrupted.

Medial septum activation produces opposite effects on dopamine neuron activity in the ventral tegmental area and substantia nigra in MAM vs. normal rats

“…34,45 This could produce a “stop and consider alternate possibilities” mode of responding in situations where reward contingencies had changed. This concept is supported by data showing that septohippocampal lesions increase perseverative responding and proactive interference and decrease fear extinction.…”

Dissociable effects of age and testosterone on adolescent impatience

“…More importantly, the behavioural dissociation between age and testosterone, and the modelling results, illustrate that impatient behaviour is best described as the product of multiple interacting processes (van den Bos and McClure, 2013). Recent research suggests that the striatum is one of the central regions where different valuation processes are integrated (Burton et al, 2015). Indeed, increased control across adolescence has been associated with the dorsal striatum and its connections with the prefrontal cortex (Luna et al, 2015;van den Bos et al, 2015), whereas sensitivity to immediate rewards in adults has been associated with activity in the ventral striatum (McClure et al, 2004).…”

How does the interaction of presumed timing, location and extent of the underlying brain lesion relate to upper limb function in children with unilateral cerebral palsy?

“…Brain activation of the caudate nucleus has been demonstrated during 2DP and decision-making tasks. 40,41 Fiori et al also found that the caudate nucleus contributed significantly to the variation in 2PD in children with PWM lesions. 13 Overall, only low to moderate correlations were found between sensory outcomes and structural brain damage in contrast to motor outcomes.…”