Abstract
Despite our ever-changing environment, animals are remarkably adept at selecting courses of action that are predictive of optimal outcomes. While requiring the contribution of a number of brain regions, a vast body of evidence implicates striatal mechanisms of associative learning and action selection to be critical to this ability. While numerous models of striatal-based decision-making have been developed, it is only recently that we have begun to understand the precise contributions of specific subpopulations of striatal neurons. Studies utilizing contemporary cell-type-specific technologies indicate that striatal output pathways play distinct roles in controlling goal-directed and social behaviors. Here we review current models of striatal-based decision-making, discuss recent developments in defining the functional roles of striatal output pathways, and assess how striatal dysfunction may contribute to the etiology of various neuropathologies.
Highlights
Economical decision-making can be defined as the selection of the optimal course of action among a host of competing alternatives
These data provide additional evidence that social behaviors can act as natural reward that are controlled through nucleus accumbens (NAc) D1-Medium spiny neurons (MSNs) within the direct pathway
The resulting disinhibition of NAc D1-MSNs was associated with enhanced acquisition repetitive motor behaviors, typical of AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS (ASDs), predicted to be resultant of facilitated signaling through the direct pathway
Summary
Economical decision-making can be defined as the selection of the optimal (i.e., most rewarding or least aversive) course of action among a host of competing alternatives. The ventral striatum, largely comprised of the nucleus accumbens (NAc), receives projections from limbic structures, including the amygdala, hippocampus as well as the medial prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices (Alexander et al, 1986; Haber, 2003) This topography is proposed to confer dissociable functions to each of the striatal subregions, allowing them to dynamically and adaptively control the flow of cognitive and affective information to motor output systems, resulting in facilitation or inhibition of actions (Mink, 1996; Balleine and Dickinson, 1998; Nicola, 2006). STRIATAL PATHWAY CONTROL OF GOAL-DIRECTED BEHAVIOR There is considerable evidence to indicate that striatal pathways are implicated in the control of goal-directed behavior,
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