The Basal Ganglia Contribution to Controlled and Automatic Processing

Abstract

The basal ganglia are traditionally associated with motor activity. However, recent studies indicate that this structure plays a key role in cognitive processes. In this chapter, we analyze the involvement of the dorsal striatum in controlled and automatic processes. These two concepts are major research topics in psychology and neuroscience, since they have a relevance to different fields such as attention, learning, and memory. The dorsal striatum is a structure anatomically divided into different main functional domains that are essential for the acquisition and expression of habits and goal-directed behaviors. From these recent ideas of basal ganglia function, this chapter includes an integrative view of normal and pathological processes observed in some mental and degenerative illness.