Rules through Recursion: How Interactions between the Frontal Cortex and Basal Ganglia May Build Abstract, Complex Rules from Concrete, Simple Ones

The understanding of abstract rules is necessary for the development of goal-directed behavior, and generally has been linked to prefrontal function. However, this chapter puts forward the theory that complex thoughts and actions can actually be "bootstrapped" from simpler ones through the parallel interactions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and basal ganglia (specifically, the dorsal striatum) via the corticoganglia loops. The relationship between the two structures appears to be that, as the animal learns specific stimulus-response associations, they are quickly represented in the striatum, which then slowly trains the PFC. The closed circuit loop between the two structures suggests an autoassociative network in which a key component is the ability to learn temporal sequences of patterns and thus make predictions.