Progress in understanding the functions of the basal ganglia has been slow<ref>[http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Srinivasa_Chakravarthy2/publication/45276082_What_do_the_basal_ganglia_do_A_modeling_perspective/links/0a85e53a529cb282f2000000.pdf Fix JD (2008). "Basal Ganglia and the Striatal Motor System". Neuroanatomy (Board Review Series) (4th ed.). Baltimore: Wulters Kluwer & Lippincott Wiliams & Wilkins. pp. 274–281. ISBN 0-7817-7245-1.]</ref>. The most popular hypotheses, broadly stated, propose that the basal ganglia play a central role in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_selection action selection]<ref>[http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stan_Floresco/publication/266085689_The_Nucleus_Accumbens_An_Interface_Between_Cognition_Emotion_and_Action/links/55325a820cf27acb0deb1423.pdf Chakravarthy VS, Joseph D, Bapi RS (2010). "What do the basal ganglia do? A modeling perspective" (PDF). Biological Cybernetics. 103 (3): 237–53.]</ref>. The action selection theory in its simplest form proposes that when a person or animal is in a situation where several behaviors are possible, activity in the basal ganglia determines which of them is executed, by releasing that response from inhibition while continuing to inhibit other motor systems that if activated would generate competing behaviors<ref>[http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stan_Floresco/publication/266085689_The_Nucleus_Accumbens_An_Interface_Between_Cognition_Emotion_and_Action/links/55325a820cf27acb0deb1423.pdf Floresco SB (2015). "The nucleus accumbens: an interface between cognition, emotion, and action" . Annual Review of Psychology. 66: 25–52. doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115159]</ref>. Thus the basal ganglia, in this concept, are responsible for initiating behaviors, but not for determining the details of how they are carried out. In other words, they essentially form a decision-making system <ref>[http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stan_Floresco/publication/266085689_The_Nucleus_Accumbens_An_Interface_Between_Cognition_Emotion_and_Action/links/55325a820cf27acb0deb1423.pdf Floresco SB (2015). "The nucleus accumbens: an interface between cognition, emotion, and action" . Annual Review of Psychology. 66: 25–52. doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115159]</ref>.

==References==

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