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Real action, language, and thought occur in streams of complex sequential patterns, a shared feature that has been called action syntax . Brain structures such as neostriatum and substantia nigra help control the sequential pattern of normal animal instinctive action and human language and thought, and nigrostriatal dysfunction is linked to human disorders including obsessive-compulsive disorder, Tourette's syndrome, and Parkinson's disease . Human language/thought sequencing functions of the striatum may derive from its evolutionary 'action syntax' role in sequencing instinctive actions, including rodent grooming. Our studies aim to clarify how brain systems carry out action syntax functions.

Our studies show that the brain neostriatum controls the sequential pattern of instinctive grooming behaviors by making action syntax patterns stronger. We are also examining how firing of neurons in neostriatum and connected brain structures actually codes sequential patterns, in collaborative electrophysiology studies with the laboratory of Dr. J. Wayne Aldridge. Finally, we have studied how excessively rigid behavioral patterns can be caused, in mutant mouse and related models of OCD and Touretes, with Dr. Xiaoxi Zhuang

. Our goal is to better understand the brain link that connects animal instinctive actions to human language and thought (Overview ).