Corticostriatal Circuitry

Abstract

The cortico network plays a central role developing appropriate goal-directed behaviors, including the motivation and cognition to develop appropriate actions to obtain a specific outcome. Projections from cortex through basal ganglia structures are organized in a general topography. Thus, different regions of the striatum, pallidum, midbrain, and thalamus have been associated with these different functions: the ventral striatum, ventral pallidum, and ventral tegmental area with reward; the caudate nucleus, central pallidum, and substantia nigra with cognition; and the putamen, dorsal pallidum, and ventral substantia nigra with motor control. However, these connections are more complex and interactions between functional territories are extensive. These interactions occur in specific regions in which convergence of terminals fields from different functional cortical are found. This chapter reviews the connections through the cortico-basal ganglia network and their role in integrating information across reward, cognitive, and motor functions.