title: Basal ganglia output reflects internally-specified movements.
abstract: How movements are selected is a fundamental question in systems neuroscience. While many studies have elucidated the sensorimotor transformations underlying stimulus-guided movements, less is known about how internal goals - critical drivers of goal-directed behavior - guide movements. The basal ganglia are known to bias movement selection according to value, one form of internal goal. Here, we examine whether other internal goals, in addition to value, also influence movements via the basal ganglia. We designed a novel task for mice that dissociated equally rewarded internally-specified and stimulus-guided movements, allowing us to test how each engaged the basal ganglia. We found that activity in the substantia nigra pars reticulata, a basal ganglia output, predictably differed preceding internally-specified and stimulus-guided movements. Incorporating these results into a simple model suggests that internally-specified movements may be facilitated relative to stimulus-guided movements by basal ganglia processing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, United States.|Neuroscience Program, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, United States.|Medical Scientist Training Program, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, United States.
authors.forename: Mario J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Lintz
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, United States.|Neuroscience Program, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, United States.|Medical Scientist Training Program, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, United States.
authors.forename: Gidon
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0745-8279
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Felsen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000502:physiology*; D006040:Goals; D051379:Mice; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009068:Movement; D012201:Reward
keywords: awake behaving electrophysiology; behavior; decision making; mouse; neuroscience; substantia nigra pars reticulata