TY - JOUR
T1 - Dorsomedial striatal activity tracks completion of behavioral sequences in rats
AU - Vandaele, Youna
AU - Ottenheimer, David J.
AU - Janak, Patricia H.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse Grant R01DA035943 (to P.H.J.), the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Grant R01AA026306 (to P.H.J.), and the Peter and Traudl Engelhorn Foundation (to Y.V.).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Vandaele et al.
PY - 2021/11/1
Y1 - 2021/11/1
N2 - For proper execution of goal-directed behaviors, individuals require both a general representation of the goal and an ability to monitor their own progress toward that goal. Here, we examine how dorsomedial striatum (DMS), a region pivotal for forming associations among stimuli, actions, and outcomes, encodes the execution of goal-directed action sequences that require self-monitoring of behavior. We trained rats to complete a sequence of at least five consecutive lever presses (without visiting the reward port) to obtain a reward and recorded the activity of individual cells in DMS while rats performed the task. We found that the pattern of DMS activity gradually changed during the execution of the sequence, permitting accurate decoding of sequence progress from neural activity at a population level. Moreover, this sequence-related activity was blunted on trials where rats did not complete a sufficient number of presses. Overall, these data suggest a link between DMS activity and the execution of behavioral sequences that require monitoring of ongoing behavior.
AB - For proper execution of goal-directed behaviors, individuals require both a general representation of the goal and an ability to monitor their own progress toward that goal. Here, we examine how dorsomedial striatum (DMS), a region pivotal for forming associations among stimuli, actions, and outcomes, encodes the execution of goal-directed action sequences that require self-monitoring of behavior. We trained rats to complete a sequence of at least five consecutive lever presses (without visiting the reward port) to obtain a reward and recorded the activity of individual cells in DMS while rats performed the task. We found that the pattern of DMS activity gradually changed during the execution of the sequence, permitting accurate decoding of sequence progress from neural activity at a population level. Moreover, this sequence-related activity was blunted on trials where rats did not complete a sufficient number of presses. Overall, these data suggest a link between DMS activity and the execution of behavioral sequences that require monitoring of ongoing behavior.
KW - Action sequence
KW - Dorsomedial striatum
KW - Goal-directed behavior
KW - Time processing
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U2 - 10.1523/ENEURO.0279-21.2021
DO - 10.1523/ENEURO.0279-21.2021
M3 - Article
C2 - 34725103
AN - SCOPUS:85119194860
SN - 2373-2822
VL - 8
JO - eNeuro
JF - eNeuro
IS - 6
M1 - ENEURO.0279-21.2021
ER -