basal ganglia
Deep brain structures
The basal ganglia are clusters of neurons deep within the brain that help regulate voluntary movement, procedural learning, and habit formation.
Damage to these structures underlies movement disorders like Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease.
Despite the plural form, basal ganglia typically functions as a singular unit: The basal ganglia is involved in motor control.
Subcortical basal ganglia nucleus
Neurological disorder causing tremors
- Huntington's diseaseInherited fatal neurodegenerative condition
- dystoniaMovement disorder causing postures
- choreaInvoluntary jerking muscle disorder
- bradykinesiaPathological movement slowness
tremor · rigidity · hemiballismus · Tourette syndrome · tics · Wilson's disease · deep brain stimulation · levodopa
Regulation of bodily movement
- habit formationEstablishing automatic behavioral patterns
- procedural memoryUnconscious learned action storage
- voluntary movementSelf-initiated bodily action
- postureBody position, alignment
gait · decision making · motivation · executive function · cognitive processing · emotional regulation
Reward-linked neural messenger
- GABAInhibitory brain neurotransmitter
- glutamateExcitatory neural transmitter
- acetylcholineNeurotransmitter for muscles and memory
- substance PPain-signaling neuropeptide
striatum
Subcortical basal ganglia nucleus
Parkinson's disease
Neurological disorder causing tremors
- Huntington's diseaseInherited fatal neurodegenerative condition
- dystoniaMovement disorder causing postures
- choreaInvoluntary jerking muscle disorder
bradykinesia · tremor · rigidity · hemiballismus · Tourette syndrome · tics · Wilson's disease · deep brain stimulation · levodopa · neurodegeneration
motor control
Regulation of bodily movement
- habit formationEstablishing automatic behavioral patterns
- procedural memoryUnconscious learned action storage
- voluntary movementSelf-initiated bodily action
posture · gait · decision making · motivation · executive function · cognitive processing · emotional regulation
dopamine
Reward-linked neural messenger
- GABAInhibitory brain neurotransmitter
- glutamateExcitatory neural transmitter
- acetylcholineNeurotransmitter for muscles and memory
basal gangliacerebral cortex
Brain's outer neural sheet
neocortex · prefrontal cortex · motor cortex · cortex · sensory cortex