Neural Activity in the Anterior Striatum during Comparison of Reward Values

To elucidate the contribution of basal ganglia to decision-making, we recorded the neural activity of the anterior striatum in macaques while they performed a choice task and an instructed task. We found that the striatum, particularly the anterior striatum, exhibited higher activity when reward values were compared to choose one of two stimuli than that when the stimulus was forced without a choice. Keywords—Basal ganglia, decision-making, anterior striatum, macaque, reward value