Subcortical Structures
and Cognition

Chapter 1

Movement, Cognition, and the Vertically Organized Brain

This chapter introduces the reader to the basal ganglia and the cerebellum. Most of us have been taught a cortico-centric model of cognition in which the neocortex is viewed as the seat of all cognition and purposive behavior. In this model, the basal ganglia and cerebellum are viewed as co-processors of movement.

This chapter argues that the brain functions in a highly efficient and integrated way, and that what the basal ganglia and cerebellum do for movement, they also do for cognition. The chapter also presents a dual control model of behavior, in which higher order control is mediated by the cortex and automatic behavior is mediated by subcortical regions. However, the default condition of the brain is to benefit from experience, and the brain tries to make that which is initially novel to become familiar because this principle has decisive adaptive advantage.

The cortex is presented as a sensory processor and motor programmer, the basal ganglia are presented as governing intention programs, and the cerebellum is introduced as providing behavior with the appropriate refinement and amplification. These three different brain regions are essential for all cognition and behavior.