Behaving as desired requires selecting the appropriate behavior and inhibiting the selection of inappropriate behavior. This inhibitory function involves multiple processes, such as reactive and proactive inhibition, instead of a single process. In this study, two male macaque monkeys were required to perform a task in which they had to sequentially select (accept) or refuse (reject) a choice. Neural activity was recorded from the anterior striatum, which is considered to be involved in behavioral inhibition, focusing on the distinction between proactive and reactive inhibitions. We identified neurons with significant activity changes during the rejection of bad objects. Cluster analysis revealed three distinct groups, of which only one showed increased activity during object rejection, suggesting its involvement in proactive inhibition. This activity pattern was consistent irrespective of the rejection method, indicating a role beyond saccadic suppression. Furthermore, minimal activity changes during the fixation task indicated that these neurons were not primarily involved in reactive inhibition. In conclusion, these findings suggest that the anterior striatum plays a crucial role in cognitive control and orchestrates goal-directed behavior through proactive inhibition, which may be critical in understanding the mechanisms of behavioral inhibition dysfunction that occur in patients with basal ganglia disease.

按照期望行事需要选择适当的行为并抑制选择不适当的行为。这种抑制功能涉及多个过程，例如反应性和主动抑制，而不是单个过程。在这项研究中，两只雄性猕猴被要求执行一项任务，它们必须依次选择（接受）或拒绝（拒绝）一个选择。从前纹状体记录神经活动，前纹状体被认为与行为抑制有关，侧重于主动抑制和反应抑制之间的区别。我们确定了在排斥坏物体期间具有显着活动变化的神经元。聚类分析揭示了三个不同的组，其中只有一个在物体排斥期间表现出活性增加，表明它参与了主动抑制。无论采用何种排斥方法，这种活动模式都是一致的，表明其作用超出了扫视抑制。此外，固定任务期间的最小活动变化表明这些神经元主要不参与反应性抑制。总之，这些发现表明前纹状体在认知控制中起着至关重要的作用，并通过主动抑制来协调目标导向的行为，这对于理解基底神经节疾病患者发生的行为抑制功能障碍的机制可能至关重要。