A blueprint for examining striatal control of cognition

Abstract

In a recent study, Bolkan, Stone, and colleagues demonstrated that direct and indirect striatal pathways in mice exert opponent control over choice behavior in a task- and state-dependent manner. This work highlights the need for rigorously controlled behavioral experiments and novel behavioral modeling in investigations of the neural mechanisms of decision making.

Keywords: behavioral modeling; decision making; direct pathway; dorsal striatum; indirect pathway.

Figure 1:. Cognitive demand and behavioral state impact opponent spiny neuron interactions in dorsomedial striatal processing.

(Left) Virtual T-maze task recently used by Bolkan, Stone, and colleagues[2], whereby decision-related information is processed in a temporally segregated manner from actions required to register a decision. (Right) Tasks with low cognitive demand or particular behavioral states exhibit weak striatal opponent control of choice behavior by direct and indirect pathway spiny projection neurons (dSPNs and iSPNs, respectively). This may reflect critical processing in other circuits or sparse recruitment of dorsomedial striatum (DMS) ensembles. As cognitive demands increase, opponent striatal control is enhanced, potentially gating the activity of cortical areas relevant for the decision process.