Involvement of the caudate nucleus during the generation of novel movement patterns: An fMRI study at 3T

Background: The basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical circuits are viewed as segregated parallel feed back loops, crucially involved in motor control. We have previously studied the subcortical activation pattern preceeding an automated four digit finger sequence, that was either self-initiated or triggered externally by a visual cue (Boecker et al., Neuroimage 2007). The anterior putamen, contralateral to the effector hand, was differentially more activated during the self-initiated condition, implicating its specific role in motor planning. In the present study, we extend these investigations on cognitive aspects of…