Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

What do the basal ganglia do?

P Brown1, C D Marsden

  • 1National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and MRC Human Movement Balance Unit, Institute of Neurology, London, UK.

Lancet (London, England)
|June 23, 1998
PubMed
Summary

The basal ganglia facilitate focused attention by synchronizing brain activity, linking sensory input to motor output. Dysfunction in this attentional mechanism may contribute to conditions like parkinsonism and abulia.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

The effect of withdrawal of dopaminergic medication on simple and choice reaction time and the use of advance information in Parkinson's disease.

Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry·1992
Same author

New insights into the cause of Parkinson's disease.

Neurology·1992
Same author

Platelet mitochondrial function in Parkinson's disease. The Royal Kings and Queens Parkinson Disease Research Group.

Annals of neurology·1992
Same author

Fronto-striatal cognitive deficits at different stages of Parkinson's disease.

Brain : a journal of neurology·1992
Same author

Corticobasal degeneration.

Bailliere's clinical neurology·1992
Same author

"Isolated" postinfectious myoclonus.

Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry·1992

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Systems Neuroscience

Background:

  • The basal ganglia are crucial for motor control and executive functions.
  • Focused attention is essential for linking sensory information to voluntary actions and cognitive processes.
  • Neuronal synchrony, particularly in the gamma band (30-50 Hz), is implicated in information processing and binding.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To propose a novel attentional mechanism supported by the basal ganglia.
  • To elucidate the role of the basal ganglia in binding sensory input to motor output within the executive forebrain.
  • To explore the physiological basis of this attentional mechanism, potentially involving gamma-band synchrony.

Main Methods:

  • Theoretical proposal based on existing neuroscientific literature.
  • Integration of concepts from basal ganglia function, attention, and neuronal synchrony.
  • Hypothesizing the role of gamma-band synchrony in facilitating information convergence.

Main Results:

  • The basal ganglia are proposed to support a fundamental attentional mechanism.
  • This mechanism automatically links voluntary effort, sensory input, and the execution of motor programs or thoughts.
  • Gamma-band synchrony in distributed cortical activities may serve as the physiological basis for this attentional binding.

Conclusions:

  • The basal ganglia play a significant role in facilitating attentional processing and neuronal synchrony in the forebrain.
  • Loss or impairment of this basal ganglia function is suggested as a contributing factor to parkinsonism and abulia.
  • Understanding this mechanism offers insights into the neural basis of attention and related neurological disorders.

Related Experiment Videos