This volume, the sixth in the IBAGS series, summarizes major
contributions in clinical and basic research on the basal ganglia. The
sixth meeting of the Society was held on Cape Cod, in the state of
Massachusetts, USA, in October, 1998. Altogether 16 countries were
represented by 227 participants. This volume contains papers contributed
by participants. The focus of the sixth triennial IBAGS meeting, and of
this volume, was to bring to- gether leaders in basic and clinical
science to address two sets of still-persisting questions in the field.
The first set focuses on the functions of the basal ganglia in health
and disease: What are the core functions of the basal ganglia and
cortico-basal ganglia loops? How are these core functions disrupted in
disorders affecting the basal ganglia? How do we account for the broad
range of behaviors affected by basal ganglia disorders and for the
increasing evidence that the basal ganglia influence cognitive as well
as motor functions? These issues are addressed in the first five
sections of the current volume, which summarize advances in the study of
basal ganglia disorders based on studies in humans (Section 1), new
results obtained with experimental animal models of basal ganglia
disorders (Section 2), results of experiments on information coding in
the basal ganglia (Section 3) and new information about functions of the
basal ganglia related to learning and adaptive motor control (Section
4).
