Learning and motivation in the human striatum

The past decade has seen a dramatic change in our understanding of the role of the striatum in behavior. Early perspectives emphasized a role for the striatum in habitual learning of stimulus–response associations and sequences of actions. Recent advances from human neuroimaging research suggest a broader role for the striatum in motivated learning. New findings demonstrate that the striatum represents multiple learning signals and highlight the contribution of the striatum across many cognitive domains and contexts. Recent findings also emphasize interactions between the striatum and other specialized brain systems for learning. Together, these findings suggest that the striatum contributes to a distributed network that learns to select actions based on their predicted value in order to optimize behavior.

► A wealth of human neuroimaging data highlights a role for the striatum in learning and motivation. ► These data reveal a role for the striatum in multiple forms of feedback-based learning. ► The striatum contributes to learning across different contexts, domains, and stimuli. ► The striatum interacts with other brain systems for learning, particularly the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.