How striatal neurons influence decision-making depends on broader circuit context: evidence from theory-driven cell type identification

Indirect pathway activity in striatal SPNs of mice performing a two-choice task shows three state-dependent roles, including slowing decisions when recruited in the opposing channel.

• Why it matters: The classic direct-versus-indirect action dichotomy may miss how striatal contributions change with circuit state, motivating a framework that links striatal dynamics to decision trajectories.
• What they did: The authors combined a spiking cortico-basal ganglia-thalamic model with large-scale in vivo recordings, using modeled activity patterns to infer putative striatal SPN subtypes and reconstruct decision trajectories in an underlying state space.
• The result: Indirect pathway activity preserves uncertainty when active alone, signals choice commitment when coactive with direct pathway in the same action channel, and slows decisions when recruited in the opposing channel, each tied to distinct basal ganglia control ensemble engagement that tunes decision policy.

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