Cognitive-motor interactions of the basal ganglia in development

Abstract

Neural circuits linking activity in anatomically segregated populations of neurons in subcortical structures and the neocortex throughout the human brain regulate complex behaviors such as walking, talking, language comprehension, and other cognitive functions associated with frontal lobes. The basal ganglia, which regulate motor control, are also crucial elements in the circuits that confer human reasoning and adaptive function. The basal ganglia are key elements in the control of reward-based learning, sequencing, discrete elements that constitute a complete motor act, and cognitive function. Imaging studies of intact human subjects and electrophysiologic and tracer studies of the brains and behavior of other species confirm these findings. We know that the relation between the basal ganglia and the cerebral cortical region allows for connections organized into discrete circuits. Rather than serving as a means for widespread cortical areas to gain access to the motor system, these loops reciprocally interconnect a large and diverse set of cerebral cortical areas with the basal ganglia. Neuronal activity within the basal ganglia associated with motor areas of the cerebral cortex is highly correlated with parameters of movement. Neuronal activity within the basal ganglia and cerebellar loops associated with the prefrontal cortex is related to the aspects of cognitive function. Thus, individual loops appear to be involved in distinct behavioral functions. Damage to the basal ganglia of circuits with motor areas of the cortex leads to motor symptoms, whereas damage to the subcortical components of circuits with non-motor areas of the cortex causes higher-order deficits. In this report, we review some of the anatomic, physiologic, and behavioral findings that have contributed to a reappraisal of function concerning the basal ganglia and cerebellar loops with the cerebral cortex and apply it in clinical applications to attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with biomechanics and a discussion of retention of primitive reflexes being highly associated with the condition.

Gross Motor Milestones and Subsequent Development

“…Recent evidence confirms that the basal ganglia, specifically the caudate nucleus, interact closely with the executive parts of frontal lobes to regulate cognitive function. 21 In addition, basal ganglia are essential elements of linguistic learning in humans.…”

The nature of individual differences in inhibited temperament and risk for psychiatric disease: A review and meta-analysis

“…The PFC has both direct and indirect connections with the amygdala (Carmichael and Price, 1995; Freese and Amaral, 2009; Ghashghaei et al, 2007; Ray and Zald, 2012) and can inhibit amygdala responses (Quirk et al, 2003; Rosenkranz and Grace, 2002). Finally, The basal ganglia are involved in reward processing (Haber and Knutson, 2009; Nestor et al, 2010; Pizzagalli, 2014; Treadway and Zald, 2013; Volkow et al, 2013) and cognitive functioning, including inhibitory control(Leisman et al, 2014). Importantly, the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and basal ganglia are structurally and functionally interconnected; therefore, it is likely that these three regions form the basis of a neural circuit subserving inhibited temperament (see section 2.4.…”

“…Second, in their attentional control task, Jarcho and colleagues (2014) found that inhibited individuals had increased activation during attentional control to fear stimuli in the caudate and ventral striatum, and decreased activation during attention control in the happy condition in the putamen. While the basal ganglia have traditionally been ascribed a role in motor control and reward processing, these subcortical brain regions are strongly connected to multiple PFC regions (Di Martino et al, 2008; Haber, 2003; Lehéricy et al, 2004), forming fronto-striatal loops that subserve attention, learning, executive control and cognition (Leisman et al, 2014). Thus, increased activation of basal ganglia regions during both reward anticipation and cognitive control tasks may reflect inhibitory control functions of both the basal ganglia and PFC.…”

The relationship between co-speech gesture production and macrolinguistic discourse abilities in people with focal brain injury

“…The left superior temporal gyrus (see Graves, Grabowski, Mehta, & Gupta, 2008) and the basal ganglia (for a review, see Ullman, 2004) are also implicated in lexical and phonological processing. Furthermore, the basal ganglia are strongly connected to the frontal cortex (see Ullman, 2004), to the extent that lesions in these structures may resemble deficiencies from frontal cortex damage (Leisman, Braun-Benjamin, & Melillo, 2014). Our results regarding the neural correlates of increased gesture production support the idea that people use more gestures to compensate for their language impairment.…”