Chapter 8
Familiarity and Novelty - Evaluating the Frontostriatal System
Automating solutions to novel problems is an adaptive principle with tremendous survival value. The fronto-striatal system plays a critical role in this function.
This chapter proposes that most situations in life consist of alternating episodes of automatic responding with higher-order control, and that neuropsychological testing is a specialized instance of this principle. A variety of neuropsychological tests, and their neuroanatomical underpinnings, are reviewed within that context.