scholarly journals Thalamic Control of Dorsomedial Striatum Regulates Internal State to Guide Goal-Directed Action Selection

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (13) ◽  
pp. 3721-3733 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura A. Bradfield ◽  
Bernard W. Balleine
Keyword(s):  
Internal State ◽  
Action Selection ◽  
Directed Action ◽  
Dorsomedial Striatum

scholarly journals Parafascicular Thalamic and Orbitofrontal Cortical Inputs to Striatum Represent States for Goal-Directed Action Selection

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Stayte ◽  
Amolika Dhungana ◽  
Bryce Vissel ◽  
Laura A. Bradfield
Keyword(s):  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Internal State ◽  
Action Selection ◽  
Parafascicular Nucleus ◽  
Cholinergic Interneurons ◽  
Directed Action ◽  
Cortical Inputs ◽  
Partially Observable ◽  
State Context ◽  
Anatomical Evidence

Several lines of evidence accrued over the last 5–10 years have converged to suggest that the parafascicular nucleus of the thalamus and the lateral orbitofrontal cortex each represent or contribute to internal state/context representations that guide action selection in partially observable task situations. In rodents, inactivations of each structure have been found to selectively impair performance in paradigms testing goal-directed action selection, but only when that action selection relies on state representations. Electrophysiological evidence has suggested that each structure achieves this function via inputs onto cholinergic interneurons (CINs) in the dorsomedial striatum. Here, we briefly review these studies, then point to anatomical evidence regarding the afferents of each structure and what they suggest about the specific features that each contribute to internal state representations. Finally, we speculate as to whether this role might be achieved interdependently through direct PF→OFC projections, or through the convergence of independent direct orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and parafascicular nucleus of the thalamus (PF) inputs onto striatal targets.

scholarly journals A decision underlies phototaxis in an insect

Open Biology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (12) ◽  
pp. 160229 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Axel Gorostiza ◽  
Julien Colomb ◽  
Björn Brembs
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Biogenic Amines ◽  
Neuronal Activity ◽  
Internal State ◽  
Action Selection ◽  
Behavioural Flexibility ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
A Value ◽  
Behavioural Tests

Like a moth into the flame—phototaxis is an iconic example for innate preferences. Such preferences probably reflect evolutionary adaptations to predictable situations and have traditionally been conceptualized as hard-wired stimulus–response links. Perhaps for that reason, the century-old discovery of flexibility in Drosophila phototaxis has received little attention. Here, we report that across several different behavioural tests, light/dark preference tested in walking is dependent on various aspects of flight. If we temporarily compromise flying ability, walking photopreference reverses concomitantly. Neuronal activity in circuits expressing dopamine and octopamine, respectively, plays a differential role in photopreference, suggesting a potential involvement of these biogenic amines in this case of behavioural flexibility. We conclude that flies monitor their ability to fly, and that flying ability exerts a fundamental effect on action selection in Drosophila . This work suggests that even behaviours which appear simple and hard-wired comprise a value-driven decision-making stage, negotiating the external situation with the animal's internal state, before an action is selected.

scholarly journals Connections of the Mouse Orbitofrontal Cortex and Regulation of Goal-Directed Action Selection by Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor

2017 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 366-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelsey S. Zimmermann ◽  
John A. Yamin ◽  
Donald G. Rainnie ◽  
Kerry J. Ressler ◽  
Shannon L. Gourley
Keyword(s):  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Neurotrophic Factor ◽  
Action Selection ◽  
Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor ◽  
Directed Action

scholarly journals Differential encoding of action selection by orbitofrontal and striatal population dynamics

2020 ◽  
Vol 124 (2) ◽  
pp. 634-644
Author(s):  
Long Yang ◽  
Sotiris C. Masmanidis
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Action Selection ◽  
Choice Task ◽  
Previous Literature ◽  
Neural Signals ◽  
Population Activity ◽  
Differential Encoding ◽  
Alternative Choice ◽  
Dorsomedial Striatum

While previous literature shows that both orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and dorsomedial striatum (DMS) represent information relevant to selecting specific actions, few studies have directly compared neural signals between these areas. Here we compared OFC and DMS dynamics in mice performing a two-alternative choice task. We found that the animal’s choice could be decoded more accurately from DMS population activity. This work provides among the first evidence that OFC and DMS differentially represent information about an animal’s selected action.

scholarly journals Affective Experience and Evidence for Animal Consciousness

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-127
Author(s):  
Patrick Butlin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Future Study ◽  
Action Selection ◽  
Good Evidence ◽  
Practical Reasons ◽  
Affective Experience ◽  
Animal Consciousness ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Directed Action ◽  
The Future ◽  
Similar Content

Affective experience in nonhuman animals is of great interest for both theoretical and practical reasons. This paper highlights research by the psychologists Anthony Dickinson and Bernard Balleine which provides particularly good evidence of conscious affective experience in rats. This evidence is compelling because it implicates a sophisticated system for goal-directed action selection, and demonstrates a contrast between apparently conscious and unconscious evaluative representations with similar content. Meanwhile, the evidence provided by some well-known studies on pain in nonhuman animals is much less convincing. This comparison may offer lessons for the future study of animal consciousness.

scholarly journals A decision underlies phototaxis in an insect

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Axel Gorostiza ◽  
Julien Colomb ◽  
Björn Brembs
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Biogenic Amines ◽  
Neuronal Activity ◽  
Internal State ◽  
Behavioral Flexibility ◽  
Action Selection ◽  
Behavioral Tests ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
A Value

AbstractLike a moth into the flame - Phototaxis is an iconic example for innate preferences. Such preferences likely reflect evolutionary adaptations to predictable situations and have traditionally been conceptualized as hard-wired stimulus-response links. Perhaps therefore, the century-old discovery of flexibility in Drosophila phototaxis has received little attention. Here we report that across several different behavioral tests, light/dark preference tested in walking is dependent on various aspects of flight. If we temporarily compromise flying ability, walking photopreference reverses concomitantly. Neuronal activity in circuits expressing dopamine and octopamine, respectively, plays a differential role in photopreference, suggesting a potential involvement of these biogenic amines in this case of behavioral flexibility. We conclude that flies monitor their ability to fly, and that flying ability exerts a fundamental effect on action selection in Drosophila. This work suggests that even behaviors which appear simple and hard-wired comprise a value-driven decision-making stage, negotiating the external situation with the animal’s internal state, before an action is selected.

scholarly journals Action-based attention in Drosophila melanogaster

2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (6) ◽  
pp. 2428-2432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Frighetto ◽  
Mauro A. Zordan ◽  
Umberto Castiello ◽  
Aram Megighian
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Visual Target ◽  
Motor Program ◽  
Action Selection ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Fundamental Process ◽  
Directed Action ◽  
Selection For ◽  
First Time ◽  
Selection For Action

The mechanism of action selection is a widely shared fundamental process required by animals to interact with the environment and adapt to it. A key step in this process is the filtering of the “distracting” sensory inputs that may disturb action selection. Because it has been suggested that, in principle, action selection may also be processed by shared circuits in vertebrate and invertebrates, we wondered whether invertebrates show the ability to filter out “distracting” stimuli during a goal-directed action, as seen in vertebrates. In this experiment, action selection was studied in wild-type Drosophila melanogaster by investigating their reaction to the abrupt appearance of a visual distractor during an ongoing locomotor action directed to a visual target. We found that when the distractor was present, flies tended to shift the original trajectory toward it, thus acknowledging its presence, but they did not fully commit to it, suggesting that an inhibition process took place to continue the unfolding of the planned goal-directed action. To some extent flies appeared to take into account and represent motorically the distractor, but they did not engage in a complete change of their initial motor program in favor of the distractor. These results provide interesting insights into the selection-for-action mechanism, in a context requiring action-centered attention, that might have appeared rather early in the course of evolution. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Action selection and maintenance of a goal-directed action require animals to ignore irrelevant “distracting” stimuli that might elicit alternative motor programs. In this study we observed, in Drosophila melanogaster, a top-down mechanism inhibiting the response toward salient stimuli, to accomplish a goal-directed action. These data highlight, for the first time in an invertebrate organism, that the action-based attention shown by higher organisms, such as humans and nonhuman primates, might have an ancestral origin.

Depression in the Direct Pathway of the Dorsomedial Striatum Permits the Formation of Habitual Action

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoxuan Yu ◽  
Shijie Chen ◽  
Qiang Shan
Keyword(s):  
Synaptic Plasticity ◽  
Dorsal Striatum ◽  
Excitatory Synapses ◽  
Indirect Pathway ◽  
Optimal Outcomes ◽  
Direct Pathway ◽  
Parallel Circuits ◽  
Directed Action ◽  
Action Strategies ◽  
Dorsomedial Striatum

Abstract In order to achieve optimal outcomes in an ever-changing environment, humans and animals generally manage their action control via either goal-directed action or habitual action. These two action strategies are thought to be encoded in distinct parallel circuits in the dorsal striatum, specifically, the posterior dorsomedial striatum (DMS) and the dorsolateral striatum (DLS), respectively. The striatum is primarily composed of two subtypes of medium spiny neurons (MSNs): the direct-pathway striatonigral and the indirect-pathway striatopallidal MSNs. MSN-subtype-specific synaptic plasticity in the DMS and the DLS has been revealed to underlie goal-directed action and habitual action, respectively. However, whether any MSN-subtype-specific synaptic plasticity in the DMS is associated with habitual action, and if so, whether the synaptic plasticity affects the formation of habitual action, are not known. This study demonstrates that postsynaptic depression in the excitatory synapses of the direct-pathway striatonigral MSNs in the DMS is formed after habit learning. Moreover, chemogenetically rescuing this depression compromises the acquisition, but not the expression, of habitual action. These findings reveal that an MSN-subtype-specific synaptic plasticity in the DMS affects habitual action and suggest that plasticity in the DMS as well as in the DLS contributes to the formation of habitual action.

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