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Fronto-striatal organization: Defining functional and microstructural substrates of behavioural flexibility.


Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Morris, Laurel S 
Kundu, Prantik 
Dowell, Nicholas 
Mechelmans, Daisy J 
Favre, Pauline 

Abstract

Discrete yet overlapping frontal-striatal circuits mediate broadly dissociable cognitive and behavioural processes. Using a recently developed multi-echo resting-state functional MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) sequence with greatly enhanced signal compared to noise ratios, we map frontal cortical functional projections to the striatum and striatal projections through the direct and indirect basal ganglia circuit. We demonstrate distinct limbic (ventromedial prefrontal regions, ventral striatum - VS, ventral tegmental area - VTA), motor (supplementary motor areas - SMAs, putamen, substantia nigra) and cognitive (lateral prefrontal and caudate) functional connectivity. We confirm the functional nature of the cortico-striatal connections, demonstrating correlates of well-established goal-directed behaviour (involving medial orbitofrontal cortex - mOFC and VS), probabilistic reversal learning (lateral orbitofrontal cortex - lOFC and VS) and attentional shifting (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex - dlPFC and VS) while assessing habitual model-free (SMA and putamen) behaviours on an exploratory basis. We further use neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) to show that more goal-directed model-based learning (MBc) is also associated with higher mOFC neurite density and habitual model-free learning (MFc) implicates neurite complexity in the putamen. This data highlights similarities between a computational account of MFc and conventional measures of habit learning. We highlight the intrinsic functional and structural architecture of parallel systems of behavioural control.

Description

Keywords

Fronto-striatal loops, Goal-directed, Habit, Microstructure, Neurite density, Adult, Attention, Corpus Striatum, Female, Frontal Lobe, Goals, Humans, Limbic System, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Nerve Net, Neural Pathways, Neuropsychological Tests, Reversal Learning, Young Adult

Journal Title

Cortex

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0010-9452
1973-8102

Volume Title

74

Publisher

Elsevier BV
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (093705/Z/10/Z)
Wellcome Trust (093875/Z/10/Z)
Wellcome Trust (095844/Z/11/Z)
Medical Research Council (G0001354)
VV and NAH are Wellcome Trust (WT) intermediate Clinical Fellows. LM is in receipt of an MRC studentship. The BCNI is supported by a WT and MRC grant. ETB is employed part-time by the University of Cambridge and part-time by GSK PLC and is a shareholder of GSK. TWR is a consultant for Cambridge Cognition, Eli Lilly, GSK, Merck, Sharpe and Dohme, Lundbeck, Teva and Shire Pharmaceuticals. He is or has been in receipt of research grants from Lundbeck, Eli Lilly and GSK and is an editor for Springer-Verlag (Psychopharmacology). The remaining authors declare no competing financial interests. The study was funded by the Wellcome Trust Fellowship grant for VV (093705/Z/10/Z) and Cambridge NIHR Biomedical Research Centre.