Computational and causal dissociation in primate striatum during value-guided decision-making
How neural representations carrying similar information across brain regions are translated into behavioral control remains a fundamental question in neuroscience. In the primate striatum, whether subregions make overlapping or dissociable computational and causal contributions to value-guided decisions is unresolved. Here, we show that macaque striatal subregions make dissociable,…
The striatum, a region in the primate brain, plays a crucial role in decision-making based on value. However, the specific contributions of its subregions remain unclear. A recent study sheds light on this matter, revealing that different striatal subregions have distinct, modality-specific roles. The putamen is essential for decisions based on tactile values, while the caudate is involved in visual-value decisions.
The ventral striatum, meanwhile, plays a role in both types of decisions. Despite shared value encoding across these subregions, the study suggests that the necessity of each striatal subregion for decision-making is not determined by the strength of single neuron value discrimination or population-level decoding. Instead, it is the coupling between neural geometry and behavior that predicts their causal necessity.
This research provides a functional organization of the primate striatum and highlights neural geometry-behavior coupling as a key factor in behavioral control.
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