Function of basal ganglia

Neurons in the basal ganglia, like those in the lateral poions of the cerebellar hemispheres, discharge before movements begin. This observation, plus careful analysis of the effects of diseases of the basal ganglion in humans and the effects of drugs that destroy dopaminergic neurons in animals, have led to the idea that the basal ganglia are involved in the planning and programming of movement or, more broadly, in the processes by which an abstract thought is conveed into voluntary action. They influence the motor coex the thalamus, and the coicospinal pathways provide the final common pathway to motor neurons.Ref: Ganong's Review of Medical Physiology Twenty-Third Edition