The basal ganglia are a set of subcortical structures that interact with the cerebral cortex to regulate motor, cognitive and affective function through reinforcement learning and action selection.

The songbird vocal motor nucleus HVC contains cells that project to the basal ganglia, the auditory system, or downstream vocal motor structures. In this fundamental study, the authors conduct ...

Researchers have mapped the long-range synaptic connections involved in vocal learning in zebra finches, uncovering new ...

Results showed that, compared to nonsmokers, participants with tobacco use disorder exhibited increased functional connectivity between the frontoparietal network and the basal ganglia networks in ...

As the birds gradually mastered their tunes, the team also measured the level of dopamine released in the birds’ basal ganglia, a part of the brain involved in learning new motor skills. Dopamine is ...

memories that are unconscious and depend on the basal ganglia and cerebellum.