" ... Here, we incorporate newly revealed subgroups of neurons within the GPe into an existing computational model of the basal ganglia, and investigate their role in action selection. Three main results ensued. First, using previously used metrics for selection, the new extended connectivity improved the action selection performance of the model. Second, low frequency theta oscillations were observed in the subpopulation of the GPe (the TA or ‘arkypallidal’ neurons) which project exclusively to the striatum. These oscillations were suppressed by increased dopamine activity — revealing a possible link with symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Third, a new phenomenon was observed in which the usual monotonic relationship between input to the basal ganglia and its output within an action ‘channel’ was, under some circumstances, reversed. ..."
Model Type: Realistic Network
Region(s) or Organism(s): Striatum; Basal ganglia; Globus pallidus externa (GPe)
Model Concept(s): Action Selection/Decision Making; Activity Patterns; Oscillations
Simulation Environment: MATLAB
Implementer(s): Suryanarayana, Shreyas [shreyas.suryanarayana at ki.se]; Gurney, Kevin [K.Gurney at shef.ac.uk]
References:
Suryanarayana SM, Hellgren Kotaleski J, Grillner S, Gurney KN. (2019). Roles for globus pallidus externa revealed in a computational model of action selection in the basal ganglia. Neural networks : the official journal of the International Neural Network Society. 109 [PubMed]