An example of this type of gating may occur in the nucleus accumbens. Studies have shown hippocampal neurons may gate the transmission of signals between the prefrontal cortex and the nucleus accumbens. Stimulation of the prefrontal cortical neurons has a very small chance of eliciting an action potential in the nucleus accumbens while those neurons are in the down state. Likewise, stimulation of hippocampal neurons fails to produce action potentials in the nucleus accumbens; however, these hippocampal neurons have been shown to switch their targets in the nucleus accumbens to the up state. As long as these neurons remain in the up state, stimulation of prefrontal cortical neurons has a much higher likelihood of producing action potentials in the nucleus accumbens. Thus, the hippocampus serves as the gatekeeper for information flow from the prefrontal cortex to the nucleus accumbens, such that its action permissively gates these synapses.