Cited by 1,775Neural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesNeurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorMemory and Neural Mechanisms

Human and Rodent Homologies in Action Control: Corticostriatal Determinants of Goal-Directed and Habitual Action

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Balleine, Bernard W, O'Doherty, John P·2010·Neuropsychopharmacology

Abstract

Recent behavioral studies in both humans and rodents have found evidence that performance in decision-making tasks depends on two different learning processes; one encoding the relationship between actions and their consequences and a second involving the formation of stimulus-response associations. These learning processes are thought to govern goal-directed and habitual actions, respectively, and have been found to depend on homologous corticostriatal networks in these species. Thus, recent research using comparable behavioral tasks in both humans and rats has implicated homologous regions of cortex (medial prefrontal cortex/medial orbital cortex in humans and prelimbic cortex in rats) and of dorsal striatum (anterior caudate in humans and dorsomedial striatum in rats) in goal-directed action and in the control of habitual actions (posterior lateral putamen in humans and dorsolateral striatum in rats). These learning processes have been argued to be antagonistic or competing because their control over performance appears to be all or none. Nevertheless, evidence has started to accumulate suggesting that they may at times compete and at others cooperate in the selection and subsequent evaluation of actions necessary for normal choice performance. It appears likely that cooperation or competition between these sources of action control depends not only on local interactions in dorsal striatum but also on the cortico-basal ganglia network within which the striatum is embedded and that mediates the integration of learning with basic motivational and emotional processes. The neural basis of the integration of learning and motivation in choice and decision-making is still controversial and we review some recent hypotheses relating to this issue.

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Crossref · 10.1038/npp.2009.131

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  • Act/outcome system involves prelimbic area of vmPFC and posterior DMS; habit system involves sensorimotor cortex and DLS.

    “Importantly, the act/outcome system involves a corticostriatal circuit consisting of the prelimbic area within the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the posterior dorsal medial striatum (DMS), while the”

    From Learned helplessness at fifty: Insights from neuroscience. (2016) · cites this paper as Balleine & O'Doherty, 2010

    The Neural Substrates of Goal-Directed Learning section identifies a rat prelimbic–dorsomedial striatal circuit for goal-directed learning, and the Figure 2 caption (Future Directions) links sensorimotor cortical inputs to dorsolateral striatum with habits. The paper describes rodent prelimbic cortex as analogous to human vmPFC, not as an area within it, and the cited passages do not specify the posterior dorsomedial striatum. (LLM, conf=0.83)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Motor learning can be divided into two stages: associative learning in the early stage and skill learning in the late stage.

    “Motor learning can be divided into two stages: associative learning in the early stage and skill learning in the late stage (Balleine & O'Doherty, 2010 ; Doyon & Benali, 2005 ; Makino, Hwang, Hedrick, & Komiyama, 2016 ).”

    From Motor learning requires myelination to reduce asynchrony and spontaneity in neural activity (2020) · cites this paper as Balleine & O'Doherty, 2010

    The Summary describes two associative processes in action learning, and Neural Substrates of Habit Learning contrasts goal-directed responding early in training with habitual responding after overtraining (page unavailable). That supports a change with training, but the paper does not divide motor learning into an early associative-learning stage and a late skill-learning stage; it describes both goal-directed and habitual learning as associative processes. (LLM, conf=0.85)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Act/outcome system is sensitive to response-reinforcer contingency; habit system is sensitive only to temporal pairing and not contingency.

    “One system, called the “act/outcome” system, is sensitive to the contingency between response and reinforcer.”

    From Learned helplessness at fifty: Insights from neuroscience. (2016) · cites this paper as Balleine & O'Doherty, 2010

  • The vmPFC is commonly associated with a "goal-directed" system.

    “By contrast, the vmPFC, an often ill-defined area potentially comprising several distinct cytoarchitectonic regions (Fig. 2), is commonly associated with a “goal-directed” system [7].”
  • Regulation of goal-directed and habitual behaviors by cortico-striatal pathways is well established.

    “The regulation of goal-directed and habitual behaviors by cortico-striatal pathways is well established8,10.”

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [58]58. Dickinson A (1994). Instrumental conditioning. In: Mackintosh NJ (ed). Animal Cognition and Learning. Academic Press: London. pp 4-79. An important review that evaluates experimental evidence for and against a variety of theories of instrumental conditioning.

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Authors
Balleine, B. W., & O'Doherty, J. P.
Affiliations
The University of Sydney (AU)
Corresponding author
Balleine, Bernard W
Venue
Neuropsychopharmacology
Published
2009-09-23
Volume
35
Issue
1
Pages
48-69
ISSN
  • 0893-133X (ISSN-L)
  • 1740-634X
OpenAlex
W2057001461
Cited by
1,775
References
219
Citations by year
2026: 86 · 2025: 103 · 2024: 117 · 2023: 103 · 2022: 117 · 2021: 128 · 2020: 125 · 2019: 119 · 2018: 128 · 2017: 114 · 2016: 111 · 2015: 112 · 2014: 119 · 2013: 109 · 2012: 73
FWCI
4.26
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Neuropsychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Science Foundation Ireland
  • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
  • National Center for Research Resources (UL1RR024911, RR24911)
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD059257, HD59257)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
Keywords
goal-directed action, habitual behavior, corticostriatal circuits, dorsal striatum, medial prefrontal cortex, prelimbic cortex, dorsolateral striatum, dorsomedial striatum, action control, decision-making, learning and motivation, cortico-basal ganglia network
MeSH terms
Animals, Cerebral Cortex, Corpus Striatum, Goals, Habits, Humans, Motor Activity, Neural Pathways, Psychomotor Performance, Rats

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