From biological variation to goal-directed action

A year in research · 14 selected publications · five research threads

In 2013, we established how genes, brain asymmetries, stress and striatal dynamics shape the selection and evaluation of actions.

These studies combined genetics, EEG, imaging and behavioural tasks to explain why people differ in multitasking, inhibition, lateralization and adaptation.

01 · CASCADED ACTIONS

The striatum sets the balance between serial and parallel control

Functional imaging showed that striatal activation determines how much stopping and changing overlap on a serial-to-parallel continuum during cascaded actions.[1] Motivation changed that balance in opposite directions: punishment sped dual-task performance, whereas reward slowed it.[2] Acute stress also improved dual-task efficiency by changing how tasks were processed rather than how the central bottleneck switched between them.[3]

Together, these findings framed multi-action control as a flexible scheduling problem shaped by basal ganglia and current goals.

In plain terms: Coordinating several actions depends on how strongly their task goals overlap, and that overlap can be shifted by motivation and state.

02 · MONITORING

The brain evaluates what it intended and what the body did

Response evaluation drew differently on outgoing motor-command copies and incoming proprioceptive information.[4] Variation in the neuropeptide S receptor was related to better inhibition and stronger error monitoring, linking an anxiety-relevant system to a potential neurophysiological endophenotype.[5]

A longitudinal EEG measure in premanifest Huntington's disease tracked progression and predicted clinically relevant parameters more sensitively than established measures.[6] This work showed the translational value of mechanism-based signals.

In plain terms: Sensitive monitoring measures can distinguish intended, executed and evaluated aspects of an action—and can track disease before overt symptoms dominate.

03 · GENES AND AGEING

Biological variation changes attention in context

In healthy older adults, the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism changed vulnerability to auditory distraction through frontostriatal processes.[7] A functional TNF-alpha variant was associated with slower attentional selection, greater distractibility and weaker response selection, connecting inflammatory signalling to ageing cognition.[8]

These findings demonstrated that a genetic effect becomes meaningful only through the processing operation and population in which it is expressed.

In plain terms: Genes do not encode a fixed level of control; they bias particular processes under particular developmental and environmental conditions.

04 · LATERALIZATION

Language and handedness have partly distinct biological roots

CCK receptor and FOXP2 variation were associated with individual differences in language lateralization.[9,10] A PCSK6 repeat polymorphism related to the degree, but not the direction, of handedness.[11] A broader review therefore argued for a multifactorial model in which several genes and environmental influences jointly shape handedness.[12]

Functional asymmetry was behaviourally relevant beyond language: right-lateralized facial-expression processing modulated subsequent response inhibition.[13]

In plain terms: Cerebral asymmetries emerge from multiple biological pathways, and early lateralized perception can influence later executive action.

05 · PLASTICITY

Learning can occur without conventional practice

A synthesis of sensory-plasticity research showed that intensive task training is not always required for learning; stimulation protocols can instead be optimized to alter synaptic transmission and efficacy.[14]

Placed beside the year's work on genes, state and basal ganglia, this broadened the lab's account of adaptation: behaviour changes through both deliberate practice and the biological tuning of information-processing systems.

In plain terms: Plasticity can be induced through structured sensory exposure even without explicit task training.

What 2013 added up to

The 2013 programme connected biological variability to the organization of goal-directed action. It laid foundations for later work by treating control as a set of measurable operations shaped by striatum, body, context and development.

Selected publications

Curated from PubMed records returned for Beste C[au] in 2013. Citation numbers in the story link to entries below. DOI links open the publisher landing page; PubMed links open the indexed record.

1. The role of the striatum in goal activation of cascaded actions.

Ness V, Beste C. Neuropsychologia. 2013;51(13):2562-71.

DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.09.032   ·   PubMed

2. Dual-task performance is differentially modulated by rewards and punishments.

Yildiz A, Chmielewski W, Beste C. Behavioural brain research. 2013;250:304-7.

DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2013.05.010   ·   PubMed

3. Stress improves task processing efficiency in dual-tasks.

Beste C, Yildiz A, Meissner TW, Wolf OT. Behavioural brain research. 2013;252:260-5.

DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2013.06.013   ·   PubMed

4. Differential effects of motor efference copies and proprioceptive information on response evaluation processes.

Stock AK, Wascher E, Beste C. PloS one. 2013;8(4):e62335.

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062335   ·   PubMed

5. Neuropeptide S receptor (NPSR1) gene variation modulates response inhibition and error monitoring.

Beste C, Konrad C, Uhlmann C, Arolt V, Zwanzger P, Domschke K. NeuroImage. 2013;71:1-9.

DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.01.004   ·   PubMed

6. A novel cognitive-neurophysiological state biomarker in premanifest Huntington's disease validated on longitudinal data.

Beste C, Stock AK, Ness V, Hoffmann R, Lukas C, Saft C. Scientific reports. 2013;3:1797.

DOI: 10.1038/srep01797   ·   PubMed

7. BDNF Val66Met polymorphism and goal-directed behavior in healthy elderly - evidence from auditory distraction.

Getzmann S, Gajewski PD, Hengstler JG, Falkenstein M, Beste C. NeuroImage. 2013;64:290-8.

DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.08.079   ·   PubMed

8. The functional tumor necrosis factor-α (308A/G) polymorphism modulates attentional selection in elderly individuals.

Gajewski PD, Hengstler JG, Golka K, Falkenstein M, Beste C. Neurobiology of aging. 2013;34(11):2694.e1-2694.e12.

DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2013.04.017   ·   PubMed

9. Cholecystokinin A receptor (CCKAR) gene variation is associated with language lateralization.

Ocklenburg S, Arning L, Gerding WM, Epplen JT, Güntürkün O, Beste C. PloS one. 2013;8(1):e53643.

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0053643   ·   PubMed

10. FOXP2 variation modulates functional hemispheric asymmetries for speech perception.

Ocklenburg S, Arning L, Gerding WM, Epplen JT, Güntürkün O, Beste C. Brain and language. 2013;126(3):279-84.

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2013.07.001   ·   PubMed

11. PCSK6 VNTR Polymorphism Is Associated with Degree of Handedness but Not Direction of Handedness.

Arning L, Ocklenburg S, Schulz S, Ness V, et al.. PloS one. 2013;8(6):e67251.

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0067251   ·   PubMed

12. Handedness: a neurogenetic shift of perspective.

Ocklenburg S, Beste C, Güntürkün O. Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews. 2013;37(10 Pt 2):2788-93.

DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2013.09.014   ·   PubMed

13. Response inhibition is modulated by functional cerebral asymmetries for facial expression perception.

Ocklenburg S, Ness V, Güntürkün O, Suchan B, Beste C. Frontiers in psychology. 2013;4:879.

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00879   ·   PubMed

14. Learning without training.

Beste C, Dinse HR. Current biology : CB. 2013;23(11):R489-99.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2013.04.044   ·   PubMed