Subthalamic nucleus and internal globus pallidus scale with the rate of change of force production in humans.

The basal ganglia, motor cortex, and cerebellum have been implicated as a circuit that codes for movement velocity. Since movement velocity covaries with the magnitude of force exerted and previous studies have shown that similar regions scale in activation for velocity and force, the scaling of neuronal activity with movement velocity could be due to the force exerted. The present study implemented a parametric functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) design to determine which brain regions directly scale with the rate of change of force production, independent of the magnitude of force exerted. Nine healthy adults produced force with their right middle finger and thumb at 25% of their maximal voluntary contraction across four conditions: (1) fast pulse, (2) fast hold, (3) medium hold, and (4) slow hold. There were three primary findings: (i) the activation volume in multiple regions increased with the duration of the force contraction, (ii) only the activation volume in the bilateral internal globus pallidus and left subthalamic nucleus parametrically scaled with the rate of change of force production, and (iii) there was an inverse relation between the activation volume in the subthalamic nucleus and internal globus pallidus with the rate of change of force production. The current findings are the first to have used neuroimaging techniques in humans to segregate the functional anatomy of the internal globus pallidus from external globus pallidus, distinguish functional activation in the globus pallidus from the putamen, and demonstrate task-dependent scaling in the subthalamic nucleus and internal globus pallidus. We conclude that fast, ballistic force production is preprogrammed, requiring a small metabolic demand from the basal ganglia. In contrast, movements that require the internal regulation of the rate of change of force are associated with increased metabolic demand from the subthalamic nucleus and internal segment of the globus pallidus.