Abstract
Hypotheses of striatal orchestration of behavior ascribe distinct functions to striatal subregions, with the dorsolateral striatum (DLS) especially implicated in habitual and skilled performance. Thus neural activity patterns recorded from the DLS, but not the dorsomedial striatum (DMS), should be correlated with habitual and automatized performance. Here, we recorded DMS and DLS neural activity in rats during training in a task promoting habitual lever pressing. Despite improving performance across sessions, clear changes in corresponding neural activity patterns were not evident in DMS or DLS during early training. Although DMS and DLS activity patterns were distinct during early training, their activity was similar following extended training. Finally, performance after extended training was not associated with DMS disengagement, as would be predicted from prior work. These results suggest that behavioral sequences may continue to engage both striatal regions long after initial acquisition, when skilled performance is consolidated.
Highlights
The dorsal striatum plays a pivotal role in learning and performing actions, including sequential actions, made to obtain rewarding outcomes, with distinct functions proposed for different striatal subregions (Balleine et al, 2009; Graybiel and Grafton, 2015)
To characterize neural activity in dorsomedial striatum (DMS) and dorsolateral striatum (DLS) during early and extended training, rats were trained in a discrete trials fixed ratio-5 (DT5) procedure
To measure neural activity during learning, one group of rats was implanted with fixed recording electrodes in the DMS and DLS before training in the discrete-trials fixed-ratio 5 (DT5) task, and neural activity in these regions was recorded during acquisition
Summary
The dorsal striatum plays a pivotal role in learning and performing actions, including sequential actions, made to obtain rewarding outcomes, with distinct functions proposed for different striatal subregions (Balleine et al, 2009; Graybiel and Grafton, 2015). When subjects are trained to execute a series of lever presses for reward, neuronal excitations emerge over learning in the dorsal striatum at the initiation and termination of the response sequence (Jin and Costa, 2010; Jin et al, 2014). These neural excitations have been termed start/stop responses, and, along with sustained
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