Code and Dataset - Lack of action monitoring as a prerequisite for habitual and chunked behavior: Behavioral and neural correlates

this resource provides the data files and Matlab code used to analyze the data and generate all the figures in the study described below. Article Summary: We previously reported the rapid development of habitual behavior in a discrete-trials instrumental task in which lever insertion and retraction act as reward-predictive cues delineating sequence execution. Here we asked whether these lever cues or performance variables reflective of skill and automaticity might account for this habitual behavior. Behavior in the discrete-trials habit-promoting task was compared with two task variants lacking the sequence-delineating cues of lever extension and retraction. We find that behavior is under goal-directed control in absence of sequence-delineating cues but not in their presence, and that efficient, skilled performance does not predict goal-directed vs. habitual behavior. Neural activity recordings revealed an engagement of dorsolateral striatum and a disengagement of dorsomedial striatum during sequence execution of the habit-promoting task, specifically. Together, these results indicate that sequence delineation cues promote habitual behavior and differential engagement of striatal subregions during instrumental responding, a pattern that may reflect cue-elicited behavioral chunking.