Seminar: “Temporally and Functionally Distinct Contributions to Value-Based Choice Along the Anterior-Posterior Dorsomedial Striatal Axis”
09/02/2026 ⎯ 12:00 pm
- This event has passed.
On February 9 at 12:00, Lecture Hall 4.1 (Clinic Campus) will host the first seminar of 2026 of the Continuing Conference Series of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Entitled “Temporally and Functionally Distinct Contributions to Value-Based Choice Along the Anterior-Posterior Dorsomedial Striatal Axis”, the seminar will be delivered by Dr. Edgar Díaz Hernández, researcher at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.
This session is addressed to academic staff of the faculty and research centers in Barcelona. No registration is required.
In addition, anyone wishing to meet with the speaker may contact Nadia di Franco.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Below is a brief synopsis of the topics that will be presented by the speaker:
Abstract — While the dorsoventral and mediolateral organization of the striatum has resolved clear functional distinctions, far less is known about how the anterior–posterior striatal axis contributes to behavioral control. We explore this within the dorsomedial striatum (DMS), a key region for value-based choice, by comparing population neuronal activity and function within anterior (A-DMS) and posterior (P-DMS) subregions while mice operantly seek reward. Neural recordings show that P-DMS encoded action values and strategy information prior to choice selection, while A-DMS activity represented recently selected choices and their anticipated values via a dynamic population reorganization immediately following action selection. Optogenetic perturbations were consistent with these temporally distinct coding properties, as unilateral manipulation of the P-DMS prior to choice biased choice contralaterally in a value-dependent manner, and unilateral inhibition of the A-DMS following choice impaired future value-based action selection. Using anterograde tracing, we found that the A-DMS and P-DMS projected to a common region within the ventromedial substantia nigra pars reticulata (vmSNr), which contained value-related signals combining aspects of upstream DMS processing. Together, our results support a model for temporally distributed influence on value-based choice across the anterior–posterior axis of the DMS.