Disinhibition as a basic process in the expression of striatal functions.

During the past decade, electrophysiological approaches have greatly improved understanding of the involvement of the basal ganglia in motor behaviour. This review reports that the basal ganglia contribute to the initiation of movement by arousing executive motor centres via a disinhibitory mechanism. We propose that the basal ganglia output is used as a movement template specifying the motor elements to be engaged in directing movement in space.