Acquisition of Auditory Discrimination Mediated by Different Processes through Two Distinct Circuits Linked to the Lateral Striatum

The striatum, the central hub of cortico-basal ganglia loops, contains functionally heterogeneous subregions distinguished by the topographic patterns of structural connectivity. These subregions mediate various processes of procedural learning. However, it remains unclear when and how striatal subregions engage in the acquisition of sensory stimulus-based decision-making. We show that the anterior dorsolateral striatum (aDLS) and posterior ventrolateral striatum (pVLS) are activated in a different temporal pattern during the acquisition phase of auditory discrimination. The aDLS promotes the behavioral strategy driven by the stimulus-response association while suppressing that by the response-outcome association, and the pVLS contributes to forming and maintaining the stimulus-response strategy. These two subregions exhibit distinct event-related responses during the learning processes. Our findings demonstrate that aDLS and pVLS neurons integrate the new learning of auditory discrimination in spatiotemporally and functionally different manners.

纹状体（striatum）作为皮层-基底神经节环路的核心枢纽，包含以结构连接拓扑模式为区分依据的功能异质性亚区。此类亚区介导多种程序学习过程，但目前学界仍不清楚纹状体亚区何时以及如何参与基于感觉刺激的决策习得。本研究发现，在听觉辨别任务的习得阶段，前背外侧纹状体（aDLS）与后腹外侧纹状体（pVLS）呈现出不同的时间激活模式：其中aDLS可促进由刺激-反应联结驱动的行为策略，同时抑制由反应-结果联结介导的行为策略；而pVLS则参与刺激-反应策略的形成与维持。这两个亚区在学习过程中展现出截然不同的事件相关反应。本研究结果证实，aDLS与pVLS神经元以时空与功能均存在差异的方式，整合了听觉辨别的新学习过程。