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Habit Formation and the Striatum.

Barbara J Knowlton1, Tara K Patterson2

  • 1UCLA Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, USA. knowlton@psych.ucla.edu.

Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences
|September 29, 2016
PubMed
Summary

The striatum is crucial for forming stimulus-response habits, distinct from goal-directed actions. Habit formation is influenced by training, stress, and reinforcement schedules.

Keywords:
FlexibilityNondeclarative memoryProbabilistic classificationReinforcementSpatial learningStress

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Behavioral Science
  • Cognitive Science

Background:

  • The striatum plays a critical role in habit formation.
  • Habits are distinct from goal-directed actions, characterized by insensitivity to reward devaluation.
  • Instrumental learning involves contributions from both declarative knowledge and habits, which shift with training.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying habit formation.
  • To differentiate the roles of habits versus goal-directed actions in instrumental learning.
  • To identify factors influencing the shift towards and maintenance of habits.

Main Methods:

  • Review of experimental animal and human subject data.
  • Analysis of behavioral data from instrumental learning tasks.
  • Examination of neuroimaging and lesion studies implicating cortico-striatal circuits.

Main Results:

  • Convergent evidence highlights the striatum's central role in stimulus-response habit formation.
  • Habits are insensitive to changes in reward value or contingency.
  • Behavioral control shifts from goal-directed actions to habits with extensive training, involving distinct cortico-striatal loops.

Conclusions:

  • The striatum is a key neural substrate for habit learning.
  • Habitual and goal-directed behaviors are supported by distinct neural systems.
  • Stress, distraction, and specific reinforcement schedules promote habit formation and maintenance.