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Updated: Jan 9, 2026

An Automated T-maze Based Apparatus and Protocol for Analyzing Delay- and Effort-based Decision Making in Free Moving Rodents
Published on: August 2, 2018
The striatal indirect pathway mediates hesitation
Matthew A Geramita1,2, Susanne E Ahmari3,4, Eric A Yttri5,6
1Department of Psychiatry, Translational Neuroscience Program, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. geramitama2@upmc.edu.
Abstract:
Hesitation-that is, pausing an action in the face of uncertainty-is ubiquitous in daily life, yet little is known about its underlying neural circuitry. We present a new experimental paradigm that reliably evokes hesitation in mice and find that hesitation is mediated by indirect, but not direct, pathway neurons in the dorsomedial striatum. These data establish a new role for the indirect pathway in suppressing action under uncertainty.
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