This is a real-world medical entrance exam question, please give the true answer based on the question and selection. Topic name: Nervous system, Subject name: Physiology
Function of basal ganglia 
Select and explain. 
A. Temperature regulation, B. Planning & programming of movement, C. Gross motor activity, D. Equilibrium
B: Planning & programming of movement
Answer: B: Planning & programming of movement 
Explanation: 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