Dr. Jim Houk
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(The higher order circuitry of the brain is comprised of a large-scale network of cerebral cortical areas that are individually regulated by loops through subcortical structures, particularly through t) |
Revision as of 23:53, 29 May 2006
Models Of Basal Ganglia
Jim Houk, Northwesterrn University Medical School, Chicago IL 60611
The higher order circuitry of the brain is comprised of a large-scale network of cerebral cortical areas that are individually regulated by loops through subcortical structures, particularly through the basal ganglia and cerebellum (Houk 2005, a Biological Cybernetics article entitled Agents of the Mind). These subcortical loops have powerful computational architectures. Using as an example, the relatively well-understood processing that occurs in the cortical / basal ganglionic / cerebellar distributed processing module that generates voluntary motor commands, I postulated that a network of analogous agents is an appropriate framework for exploring the dynamics of the mind. This particular entry into Scholarpedia will be mainly about the loops through the basal ganglia. They are specialized for "ball-park" action (or thought) selections. After the basal gnaglia loop has selected a ball-park estimate, the loop through the cerebellum amplifies and refines this selection. More on the basal ganglia to follow ........
