How does the brain control its own activity? A new function for the basal ganglia

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Systems Neuroscience

Background:

• Understanding brain control over its own activity, CNS excitability, and information selection is a key challenge.
• The precise mechanisms underlying selective attention and state control remain incompletely understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel theory on the basal ganglia's role in controlling central nervous system (CNS) excitability and selective attention.
• To elucidate the functional interplay between state control and selective attention.
• To identify the neural pathways involved in these basal ganglia functions.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical framework development.
• Review of existing neuroscience literature on basal ganglia, thalamic-frontal cortical pathways, and reticular formation.
• Hypothesizing functional interactions between distinct brain regions.

Main Results:

• The basal ganglia are theorized to mediate selective attention by selecting information for processing.
• The basal ganglia are proposed to control the general level of CNS excitability (state control).
• These two functions are suggested to be interdependent, influencing each other.

Conclusions:

• The basal ganglia play a crucial role in both selective attention and state control.
• These functions are achieved through modulatory actions on the thalamic-frontal cortical axis and the brainstem mesencephalic reticular formation.
• This theory offers a new perspective on how the brain manages its internal state and information processing.