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Updated: Mar 6, 2026
High-resolution Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Methods for Human Midbrain
Published on: May 10, 2012
The human globus pallidus internus is sensitive to rewards - Evidence from intracerebral recordings
Thomas F Münte1, Josep Marco-Pallares2, Seza Bolat3
1Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany; Institute of Psychology II, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
Background:
The globus pallidus internus (GPi) is the final output relay of the basal ganglia for the control of movements but has also been shown to belong to a second pathway projecting to the lateral habenula. This latter pathway is related to reward processing.
Method:
This prompted us to record, in eight patients receiving deep brain stimulation of the GPi for the alleviation of various movement disorders, local field potentials (LFP) while these patients performed a lottery task. The task entailed choosing between a higher and a lower number, which changed their color after the patient's choice with red (green) signaling a loss (win, in Euro cents) corresponding to the chosen number.
Results:
Surface recordings showed a feedback related negativity from a frontal midline site, while time domain averages in the GPi showed differential modulation depending on the valence of the stimulus with polarity inversion indicating that this reward-modulated activity was indeed generated locally. Furthermore, wavelet decomposition of the LFP showed a reward-related response in the high beta/low gamma range.
Conclusion:
We conclude that human GPi is involved in reward processing, possibly in relation to the lateral habenula.
