Cited by 1,777Memory and Neural MechanismsNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesMotor Control and Adaptation

A neostriatal habit learning system in humans

Knowlton, Barbara J., Mangels, Jennifer A., Squire, Larry R.·1996·Science

Abstract

Amnesic patients and nondemented patients with Parkinson's disease were given a probabilistic classification task in which they learned which of two outcomes would occur on each trial, given the particular combination of cues that appeared. Amnesic patients exhibited normal learning of the task but had severely impaired declarative memory for the training episode. In contrast, patients with Parkinson's disease failed to learn the probabilistic classification task, despite having intact memory for the training episode. This double dissociation shows that the limbic-diencephalic regions damaged in amnesia and the neostriatum damaged in Parkinson's disease support separate and parallel learning systems. In humans, the neostriatum (caudate nucleus and putamen) is essential for the gradual, incremental learning of associations that is characteristic of habit learning. The neostriatum is important not just for motor behavior and motor learning but also for acquiring nonmotor dispositions and tendencies that depend on new associations.

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Crossref · 10.1126/science.273.5280.1399

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  • Stimulus-response or habit learning appears to be mediated, in part, by the dorsolateral striatum (or the putamen).

    “This learning process appears to be mediated, in part, by the dorsolateral striatum (or the putamen) (Knowlton et al., 1996; White, 1997; Graybiel, 1998; Hikosaka, 1998; Yin and Knowlton, 2006).”
  • Context dependency occurs after motor skill learning in Parkinson's disease, demonstrated by diminished performance when augmented cues are removed or environmental or practice conditions are altered.

    “Context dependency occurs after motor skill learning in PD. This is demonstrated through diminished performance of a newly acquired motor skill either when the augmented cues used to learn the task are removed or the environmental or practice (random versus blocked) conditions are altered 50, 51.”
  • Both the hippocampus-entorhinal and prefronto-striatal formations comprise different memory systems involved in forms of learning in which stimulus-response associations or habits are incrementally and sequentially acquired (striatal) and more cognitive or declarative memory (hippocampal).

    “congruent with suggestions that both comprise different memory systems [53,54] involved in forms of learning in which stimulus-response associations or habits are incrementally and sequentially acquired (striatal) [55–57] and more cognitive or declarative memory (hippocampal) [53,58].”

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Authors
Knowlton, B. J., Mangels, J. A., & Squire, L. R.
Affiliations
  • University of California, Los Angeles (US)
  • University of Toronto (CA)
  • University of California San Diego (US)
Corresponding author
Squire, Larry R.
Venue
Science
Published
1996-09-06
Volume
273
Issue
5280
Pages
1399-1402
ISSN
  • 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
  • 1095-9203
OpenAlex
W1979455727
Cited by
1,777
References
51
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 30 · 2024: 47 · 2023: 37 · 2022: 38 · 2021: 37 · 2020: 90 · 2019: 39 · 2018: 46 · 2017: 63 · 2016: 67 · 2015: 68 · 2014: 68 · 2013: 86 · 2012: 73
FWCI
20.45
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Science (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health (MH24600)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Motor Control and Adaptation
Keywords
neostriatum, habit learning, Parkinson's disease, amnesia, declarative memory, caudate nucleus, putamen, associative learning, double dissociation
MeSH terms
Aged, Amnesia, Diencephalon, Female, Humans, Learning, Limbic System, Male, Memory, Middle Aged, Parkinson Disease, Matched-Pair Analysis, Neostriatum

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