The cortico-basal ganglia loop is generally thought to be organized into a parallel loop architecture, with segregated circuits subserving limbic, cognitive, motor, and sensory processing spatially separated across subregions of the striatum; the main input nucleus of the basal ganglia. Traditionally, investigators tend to focus on only one of these regions, identifying some functional role of just one subregion at a time in controlling behavior. As such, a widely held dogma has occurred, whereby the ventral striatum (or nucleus accumbens) is implicated in regulating motivation, hunger/satiety, and reward-related to drugs of abuse, with subregions of the core and shell having debatable separate roles. Conversely, the dorsal striatum is generally studied in relation to motor learning and action, albeit with its own subregions of dorsomedial, dorsolateral, and posterior that relate to cognitive, motor, and sensory, respectively.
Recently, new evidence has cast doubt on the segregated nature of these processing streams, demonstrating cross-modal convergence in downstream basal ganglia output nuclei. Furthermore, functional studies have revealed surprising findings, for example, the role of the nucleus accumbens in supporting motor recovery after spinal cord injury. Likewise, there is evidence for a major role of the dorsal striatum in aspects of habit formation that underlie addiction, which has been traditionally associated with the ventral striatum. These new findings prompt a reconsideration of the parallel, segregated functional view of the cortico-basal ganglia system in favor of a more wholistic view that supports complementarity of function in either a converging or competing model.
In this Research Topic, we invite authors to contribute primary research, review articles as well as hypothesis and theory pieces on this topic. We hope to better elucidate the anatomical, physiological, and behavioral relevance of these striatal information processing subregions, better explore their parallel or integrative downstream interactions, and hopefully reveal a more wholistic view of how these separate processing units may funnel downstream yielding a singular (unified) basal ganglia output controlling behavior and action learning.
Topic editor Jared Smith is employed by REGENXBIO Inc. All other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regards to the Research Topic subject.
Keywords:
Striatum Subregions, Cortico-basal Ganglia Loop, Cross-modal Convergence, Psychological Processing Streams, Integration vs Segregation, Behavioral Control
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
The cortico-basal ganglia loop is generally thought to be organized into a parallel loop architecture, with segregated circuits subserving limbic, cognitive, motor, and sensory processing spatially separated across subregions of the striatum; the main input nucleus of the basal ganglia. Traditionally, investigators tend to focus on only one of these regions, identifying some functional role of just one subregion at a time in controlling behavior. As such, a widely held dogma has occurred, whereby the ventral striatum (or nucleus accumbens) is implicated in regulating motivation, hunger/satiety, and reward-related to drugs of abuse, with subregions of the core and shell having debatable separate roles. Conversely, the dorsal striatum is generally studied in relation to motor learning and action, albeit with its own subregions of dorsomedial, dorsolateral, and posterior that relate to cognitive, motor, and sensory, respectively.
Recently, new evidence has cast doubt on the segregated nature of these processing streams, demonstrating cross-modal convergence in downstream basal ganglia output nuclei. Furthermore, functional studies have revealed surprising findings, for example, the role of the nucleus accumbens in supporting motor recovery after spinal cord injury. Likewise, there is evidence for a major role of the dorsal striatum in aspects of habit formation that underlie addiction, which has been traditionally associated with the ventral striatum. These new findings prompt a reconsideration of the parallel, segregated functional view of the cortico-basal ganglia system in favor of a more wholistic view that supports complementarity of function in either a converging or competing model.
In this Research Topic, we invite authors to contribute primary research, review articles as well as hypothesis and theory pieces on this topic. We hope to better elucidate the anatomical, physiological, and behavioral relevance of these striatal information processing subregions, better explore their parallel or integrative downstream interactions, and hopefully reveal a more wholistic view of how these separate processing units may funnel downstream yielding a singular (unified) basal ganglia output controlling behavior and action learning.
Topic editor Jared Smith is employed by REGENXBIO Inc. All other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regards to the Research Topic subject.
Keywords:
Striatum Subregions, Cortico-basal Ganglia Loop, Cross-modal Convergence, Psychological Processing Streams, Integration vs Segregation, Behavioral Control
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.