Distinct involvements of the subthalamic nucleus subpopulations in reward-biased decision-making in monkeys.

ABSTRACT: The subthalamic nucleus (STN) is a part of the indirect and hyperdirect pathways in the basal ganglia (BG) and has been implicated in movement control, impulsivity, and decision-making. We recently demonstrated that, for perceptual decisions, the STN includes at least three subpopulations of neurons with different decision-related activity patterns (Branam et al., 2024). Here we show that, for decisions that require both perceptual and reward-based processing, many STN neurons are sensitive to both sensory evidence and reward expectations. Within a drift-diffusion framework, STN subpopulations show different relationships to model components reflecting formation of the decision variable, dynamics of the decision bound, and non-decision-related processes. The subpopulations also differ in t

SUBMITTER: Branam K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12637535 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature