Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Basal Ganglia: Overview

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience

  • 693 Accesses

Definition

The basal ganglia are a collection of four subcortical nuclei: the striatum, substantia nigra, globus pallidus, and subthalamic nucleus. They are components of several apparently segregated circuits that can be classified according to function as motor, oculomotor, associative, or limbic. Certain neurons in the basal ganglia are major sources of the neurotransmitter dopamine, associated with reward, while others receive dopaminergic inputs; thus, the basal ganglia have received considerable attention in the context of learning. Imbalances in activity across the basal ganglia nuclei within the motor circuit are associated with various motor disorders.

Detailed Description

This section focuses on the motor aspects of the basal ganglia, which have been the subject of most computational studies. The articles can be classified as those concentrating on the activity within particular areas of the basal ganglia, those considering basal ganglia function, and those about the roles of...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 2,499.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Albin RL, Young AB, Penney JB (1989) The functional anatomy of basal ganglia disorders. Trends Neurosci 12:366–375

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chakravarthy VS, Joseph D, Bapi RS (2010) What do the basal ganglia do? Biol Cybern 103:237–253

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mallet N, Micklem BR, Henny P, Brown MT, Williams C, Bolam JP, Nakamura KC, Magill PJ (2012) Dichotomous organization of the external globus pallidus. Neuron 74:1075–1086

    PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nambu A, Tokuno H, Takada M (2002) Functional significance of the cortico-subthalamo-pallidal ‘hyperdirect’ pathway. Neurosci Res 43:111–117

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rubin JE, McIntyre CC, Turner RS, Wichmann T (2012) Basal ganglia activity patterns in parkinsonism and computational modeling of their downstream effects. Eur J Neurosci 36:2213–2228

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stephenson-Jones M, Samuelsson E, Ericsson J, Robertson B, Grillner S (2011) Evolutionary conservation of the basal ganglia as a common vertebrate mechanism for action selection. Curr Biol 21:1081–1091

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Further Reading

  • Alexander GE, Crutcher MD, DeLong MR (1990) Basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuits: parallel substrates for motor, oculomotor, ‘prefrontal’ and ‘limbic’ functions. Prog Brain Res 85:119–146

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bergman H, Feingold A, Nini A, Raz A, Slovin H, Abeles M, Vaadia E (1998) Physiological aspects of information processing in the basal ganglia of normal and parkinsonian primates. Trends Neurosci 21:32–38

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gerfen CR, Wilson CJ (1996) The basal ganglia. Handb Chem Neuroanat 12:371–468

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith Y, Bevan MD, Shink E, Bolam JP (1998) Microcircuitry of the direct and indirect pathways of the basal ganglia. Neuroscience 86:353–387

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics and Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, University of Pittsburgh, 301 Thackeray Hall, 15260, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Jonathan Rubin

Authors
  1. Jonathan Rubin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jonathan Rubin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Dieter Jaeger

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA

    Ranu Jung

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this entry

Cite this entry

Rubin, J. (2015). Basal Ganglia: Overview. In: Jaeger, D., Jung, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6675-8_760

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation