Cerebellar involvement in executive control

Abstract

The cerebellum has long been considered to be mainly involved in motor function. In the last 20 years, evidence from neuroimaging studies and from investigations of patients with cerebellar lesions has shown that the cerebellum plays a role in a range of cognitive functions. While cerebellar contributions have been shown for learning and memory, the cerebellum has also been linked to higher order cognitive control processes frequently referred to as executive functions. Although it is widely accepted that the cerebellum contributes to cognitive processing, the nature of cerebellar involvement is not well understood. The present paper focuses on the role of the cerebellum in executive processing, reviewing findings derived from neuroimaging studies or from studies investigating deficits related to cerebellar dysfunction. As executive functions cannot be considered as a unitary concept, special emphasis is put on cerebellar contributions to different aspects of executive control such as working memory, multitasking or inhibition. Referring to models derived from motor control, possible mechanisms of cerebellar involvement in executive processing are discussed. Finally, methodological problems in assessing executive deficits in general and in assessing the cerebellar contribution to executive processing in particular are addressed.

Ketamine, But Not Phencyclidine, Selectively Modulates Cerebellar GABAAReceptors Containing α6 and δ Subunits

“…Cerebellum anomalies have been noted in patients suffering from schizophrenia, dyslexia, and autism (Martin and Albers, 1995;Timmann and Daum, 2007). Furthermore, neuroimaging recordings of volunteers performing cognitive tasks suggest that the cerebellum is involved in memory, learning, language and attention (Bellebaum and Daum, 2007;Haarmeier and Thier, 2007;Sultan and Glickstein, 2007;Thach, 2007;Timmann and Daum, 2007). Collectively, the cerebellum appears to coordinate not only motor, but also cognitive activity.…”

Spontaneous revisitation during visual exploration as a link among strategic behavior, learning, and the hippocampus

“…40), and the mPFC and cerebellar regions we identified were contralateral to each other. These frontocerebellar circuits have been implicated in strategic and executive control functions (41)(42)(43). Our paradigm necessitated moment-to-moment integration of simple predictions into complex action plans, and therefore might have engaged action-sequence chaining functions in cerebellum (44).…”

Hemispheric and executive influences on low-level language processing after traumatic brain injury

“…Different parts of the network may be attributed with being responsible for various subtasks of executive functioning in a way that is dependent on the task a particular research group uses, though. There is evidence for involvement of the cerebellum (Bellebaum & Daum, 2007) as well as other non-cortical structures like the basal ganglia (Casey, Tottenham, & Fossella, 2002;Heyder, Suchan, & Daum, 2004), but researchers who focus on cortical structures seem to be converging on a few key areas. Prefrontal cortex, especially right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), gets extensive mention, as has anterior cingulate cortex (ACC, Cole & Schneider, 2007;Fassbender et al, 2006;Fassbender et al, 2004;Garavan, Ross, Murphy, Rocke, & Stein, 2002).…”