Procedural learning and memory involves the acquisition, consolidation, and retrieval of individual representations that are behaviorally expressed in an inflexible manner. Stimulusresponse habit learning represents a prominent form of procedural learning in the mammalian brain. Extensive evidence supports the hypothesis that this form of procedural learning is mediated by a neural system that contains the dorsal striatum as a primary component. Studies employing brain lesion techniques have dissociated the roles of the dorsal striatum and hippocampus in procedural and declarative memory, respectively. Pharmacological studies indicate a selective role for dorsal striatal dopamine, acetylcholine, and glutamate in memory consolidation underlying stimulusresponse procedural learning.
