Overview

• Researchers at Mount Sinai and the University of Texas at El Paso published a decision-space model identifying the striosomal compartment of the striatum as a central hub for weighting decision factors.
• The model shows that high striosomal activity drives simple or rapid impulsive choices while low activity fosters complex deliberation or decision paralysis.
• Analyses revealed increased synchrony between striosome and matrix neurons during challenging tasks, supporting the model’s context-dependent predictions.
• Authors link altered striosomal function to decision biases across psychiatric disorders such as PTSD, substance use disorder and depression.
• The study proposes modulating striosomal activity as a potential therapeutic strategy but underscores the need for animal and clinical validation.