Globus pallidus dynamics reveal covert strategies for behavioral inhibition

Abstract
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Abstract

Flexible behavior requires restraint of actions that are no longer appropriate. This behavioral inhibition critically relies on frontal cortex - basal ganglia circuits. Within the basal ganglia the globus pallidus pars externa (GPe), has been hypothesized to mediate selective proactive inhibition: being prepared to stop a specific action, if needed. Here we investigate population dynamics of rat GPe neurons during preparation-to-stop, stopping, and going. Rats selectively engaged proactive inhibition towards specific actions, as shown by slowed reaction times (RTs). Under proactive inhibition, GPe population activity occupied state-space locations farther from the trajectory followed during normal movement initiation. Furthermore, the state-space locations were predictive of distinct types of errors: failures-to-stop, failures-to-go, and incorrect choices. Slowed RTs on correct proactive trials reflected starting bias towards the alternative action, which was overcome before progressing towards action initiation. Our results demonstrate that rats can exert cognitive control via strategic adjustments to their GPe network state.

Data availability

Data and Code Availability. The neurophysiology data and analysis code used in this study are available from the to the public website Figshare: https://figshare.com/articles/Globus_pallidus_dynamics_reveal_covert_strategies_for_behavioral_inhibition/12367541

Article and author information

Author details

Bon-Mi Gu

Neurology, UCSF, San Francisco, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Robert Schmidt

Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, Germany

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Joshua D Berke

Neurology, UCSF, San Francisco, United States

For correspondence
joshua.berke@ucsf.edu

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-1436-6823

Funding

National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH101697)

Joshua D Berke

National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01 DA045783)

Joshua D Berke

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: All animal experiments were approved by the University of California, San Francisco Committee for the Use and Care of Animals (approval number: AN181071).

Copyright

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.