Thursday, May 27, 2010

iPost: Basal ganglia and dopamine strike again

The basal ganglia and dopamine have repeatedly been implicated in the IQ brain clock, and frequently with regard to coordination in cognitive behaviors and motor control in movement disorders (Huntingtons; Parkinsons). Here is yet another article along these lines
Conditional routing of information to the cortex: A model of the basal ganglia's role in cognitive coordination.
By Stocco, Andrea; Lebiere, Christian; Anderson, John R.
Psychological Review, Vol 117(2), Apr 2010, 541-574.
Abstract
The basal ganglia play a central role in cognition and are involved in such general functions as action selection and reinforcement learning. Here, we present a model exploring the hypothesis that the basal ganglia implement a conditional information-routing system. The system directs the transmission of cortical signals between pairs of regions by manipulating separately the selection of sources and destinations of information transfers. We suggest that such a mechanism provides an account for several cognitive functions of the basal ganglia. The model also incorporates a possible mechanism by which subsequent transfers of information control the release of dopamine. This signal is used to produce novel stimulus–response associations by internalizing transferred cortical representations in the striatum. We discuss how the model is related to production systems and cognitive architectures. A series of simulations is presented to illustrate how the model can perform simple stimulus–response tasks, develop automatic behaviors, and provide an account of impairments in Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)









Sent from KMcGrew iPhone (IQMobile). (If message includes an image-double click on it to make larger-if hard to see) 

No comments: