title: Cortical drive of low-frequency oscillations in the human nucleus accumbens during action selection.
abstract: The nucleus accumbens is thought to contribute to action selection by integrating behaviorally relevant information from multiple regions, including prefrontal cortex. Studies in rodents suggest that information flow to the nucleus accumbens may be regulated via task-dependent oscillatory coupling between regions. During instrumental behavior, local field potentials (LFP) in the rat nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex are coupled at delta frequencies (Gruber AJ, Hussain RJ, O'Donnell P. PLoS One 4: e5062, 2009), possibly mediating suppression of afferent input from other areas and thereby supporting cortical control (Calhoon GG, O'Donnell P. Neuron 78: 181-190, 2013). In this report, we demonstrate low-frequency cortico-accumbens coupling in humans, both at rest and during a decision-making task. We recorded LFP from the nucleus accumbens in six epilepsy patients who underwent implantation of deep brain stimulation electrodes. All patients showed significant coherence and phase-synchronization between LFP and surface EEG at delta and low theta frequencies. Although the direction of this coupling as indexed by Granger causality varied between subjects in the resting-state data, all patients showed a cortical drive of the nucleus accumbens during action selection in a decision-making task. In three patients this was accompanied by a significant coherence increase over baseline. Our results suggest that low-frequency cortico-accumbens coupling represents a highly conserved regulatory mechanism for action selection.
authors: Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom; Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany; max-philipp.stenner@med.ovgu.de.
authors: Max-Philipp
authors: MP
authors: Stenner
authors: Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom;
authors: Vladimir
authors: V
authors: Litvak
authors: Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom; Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London, United Kingdom.
authors: Robb B
authors: RB
authors: Rutledge
authors: Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany;
authors: Tino
authors: T
authors: Zaehle
authors: Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany;
authors: Friedhelm C
authors: FC
authors: Schmitt
authors: Department of Stereotactic Neurosurgery, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany; Department of Behavioral Neurology, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany; and.
authors: Jürgen
authors: J
authors: Voges
authors: Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany; Department of Behavioral Neurology, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany; and.
authors: Hans-Jochen
authors: HJ
authors: Heinze
authors: Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom; Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London, United Kingdom.
authors: Raymond J
authors: RJ
authors: Dolan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D046690:Deep Brain Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation; D003700:Delta Rhythm; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D058542:Implantable Neurostimulators; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000502:physiology*; D010507:Periodicity; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012146:Rest; D013826:Theta Rhythm
keywords: action selection; deep brain stimulation; local field potentials; nucleus accumbens; synchronization