The striatum is crucial for the correct learning and control of goal-directed behavior and habitual actions. Here in this issue of Neuron, Atallah et al. (2014) show that both reinforcement-based learning and control parameters are reflected in the neural activity of the ventromedial striatum.

Social acceptance is of key importance for healthy functioning. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine age-related changes in the neural correlates of social acceptance and rejection processing. Participants from four age groups participated in the study: pre-pubertal children (8-10 years), early adolescents (12-14 years), older adolescents (16-17 years) and young adult...

BACKGROUND Specific binding to dopamine transporters may serve as a tool to detect early loss of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons in patients with Parkinson's disease. OBJECTIVE To determine striatal dopamine transporter binding using the cocaine analogue [I-123]N-(3-iodopropen-2-yl)-2beta-carbomethoxy-3beta-(4-chl orophenyl) tropane ([I-123]IPT) and single photon emission computed tomograp...

Declarative memory is known to depend on the medial temporal lobe memory system. Recently, there has been renewed focus on the relationship between the basal ganglia and declarative memory, including the involvement of striatum. However, the contribution of striatum to declarative memory retrieval remains unknown. Here, we review neuroimaging and neuropsychological evidence for the involvement ...

Continued instrumental drug seeking despite contingent punishment is a core phenotype of drug addiction. Although the neuroanatomical basis of punished drug seeking is unclear, we hypothesize that the sensorimotor striatum, a structure that mediates habitual drug seeking, also mediates punished cocaine seeking. Forelimb sensorimotor projections into the striatum of the rat extend from the dorso...

We examined the striatal projections from different cytoarchitectonic regions of the insular cortex using anterograde and retrograde techniques. The shell and medial ventral striatum receive inputs primarily from the agranular and ventral dysgranular insula. The central ventral striatum receives inputs primarily from the dorsal agranular and dysgranular insula. Projections to the central ventra...

BACKGROUND Stopping a manual response requires suppression of the primary motor cortex (M1) and has been linked to activation of the striatum. Here, we test three hypotheses regarding the role of the striatum in stopping: striatum activation during successful stopping may reflect suppression of M1, anticipation of a stop-signal occurring, or a slower response build-up. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL F...

We previously found that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)-haplodeficient mice exhibit greater ethanol-induced place preference and psychomotor sensitization, and greater ethanol consumption after deprivation, than control mice. We further observed that, in mice, voluntary ethanol intake increases BDNF expression in the dorsal striatum (DS). Here, we determined whether BDNF within the DS...

Heightened sensitivity to emotional faces may contribute to less risk taking and susceptibility to peer influence in adolescents. A longitudinal study from Pfeifer et al. reveals a developmental increase in ventral striatum activity in early adolescence in response to emotional faces, which correlates with improved measures of resistance to peer influence and risky behavior.