Voluntary control of hunting actions by cortico-basal ganglia circuits

Abstract

In nature, the ability to select and control the appropriate sequence of actions is a fundamental brain function for survival. However, the neural mechanisms of strategic action selection in response to changing circumstances remain largely unknown. To explore this, we developed a novel hunting paradigm that requires immediate action choices in response to obstacles and prey that change position in real-time. We revealed that the motor cortex selectively encodes different hunting actions. Furthermore, we discovered how the motor cortex to the dorsomedial striatum projection is involved in strategic action selection. Our research suggests that the motor cortex and striatum conduct action selection in response to dynamic settings and depend on the learning state and the sensory information. Finally, we tried to solve the limitations of previous cortical function research using the optogenetics by applying the f-μLED and the MMTENG.