Cerebellar damage impairs internal predictions for sensory and motor function
Introduction
The cerebellum is interconnected with many brain areas including those involved in motor, sensory and higher brain function (reviewed in [1]). This, coupled with the highly stereotyped anatomy of the cerebellum, suggests that it is performing the same type of computation for different cerebral functions. Yet, it is not understood how this connectivity and anatomy translates to normal function or dysfunction when the cerebellum is damaged. Here we review several recent studies that have shed light on the way in which cerebellar dysfunction affects perception in visual and somatosensory domains, as well as movement control. A general theme that is emerging is that cerebellar dysfunction impairs the ability to make predictions important for certain kinds of sensory function and movement control.
Section snippets
The cerebellum and sensory perception
Focal damage to the cerebellum does not seem to impair primary sensory function: clinical and laboratory tests of basic sensation (e.g. proprioception tested passively) often yield results similar to healthy controls (e.g. [2]). Rather cerebellar involvement seems to be important for more complex tasks that require sensory input to form perceptions of environmental stimuli and govern behavior in response to those perceptions. The roles of vision and somatosensation are perhaps two of the most
Deficient internal models can be related to motor control deficits following cerebellar damage
The cerebellum has been implicated in the calculation of internal models of the sensorimotor apparatus and surrounding environment for some time [21, 22]. Previous work has posited links between the motor symptoms of cerebellar damage and impaired prediction of dynamics in multi-joint coordination [23]. Until recently though, direct links between disrupted internal models and impaired motor control in cerebellar patients had been lacking. Bhanpuri et al. [18•] has demonstrated that patient
Conclusions
Cerebellar damage clearly impairs both sensory and motor function, consistent with its widespread anatomical connections to different brain areas. We do not understand the function of the cerebellum to basal ganglia connection and this should be addressed in future work. However, in the sensory domain, we now know that cerebellar damage impairs visual perception of stimulus movement and proprioceptive perception during active movement. These deficits seem to be due to poor predictions of
Conflict of interest
The authors have no conflict of interest.
References and recommended reading
Papers of particular interest, published within the period of review, have been highlighted as:
• Of special interest.
•• Of outstanding interest.
Acknowledgment
Supported by NIH R01 HD040289 to AJB.
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