RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Frontosubthalamic Circuits for Control of Action and Cognition
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 11489
OP 11495
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2348-16.2016
VO 36
IS 45
A1 Adam R. Aron
A1 Damian M. Herz
A1 Peter Brown
A1 Birte U. Forstmann
A1 Kareem Zaghloul
YR 2016
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/36/45/11489.abstract
AB The subthalamic nucleus (STN) of the basal ganglia appears to have a potent role in action and cognition. Anatomical and imaging studies show that different frontal cortical areas directly project to the STN via so-called hyperdirect pathways. This review reports some of the latest findings about such circuits, including simultaneous recordings from cortex and the STN in humans, single-unit recordings in humans, high-resolution fMRI, and neurocomputational modeling. We argue that a major function of the STN is to broadly pause behavior and cognition when stop signals, conflict signals, or surprise signals occur, and that the fronto-STN circuits for doing this, at least for stopping and conflict, are dissociable anatomically and in terms of their spectral reactivity. We also highlight recent evidence for synchronization of oscillations between prefrontal cortex and the STN, which may provide a preferential “window in time” for single neuron communication via long-range connections.