Early Trajectory Prediction in Elite Athletes

Abstract

Cerebellar plasticity is a critical mechanism for optimal feedback control. While Purkinje cell activity of the oculomotor vermis predicts eye movement speed and direction, more lateral areas of the cerebellum may play a role in more complex tasks, including decision-making. It is still under question how this motor-cognitive functional dichotomy between medial and lateral areas of the cerebellum plays a role in optimal feedback control. Here we show that elite athletes subjected to a trajectory prediction, go/no-go task manifest superior subsecond trajectory prediction accompanied by optimal eye movements and changes in cognitive load dynamics. Moreover, while interacting with the cerebral cortex, both the medial and lateral cerebellar networks are prominently activated during the fast feedback stage of the task, regardless of whether or not a motor response was required for the correct response. Our results show that cortico-cerebellar interactions are widespread during dynamic feedback and that experience can result in superior task-specific decision skills.

Monosynaptic Inputs to Excitatory and Inhibitory Neurons of the Intermediate and Deep Layers of the Superior Colliculus

“…3) and are likely important for localizing potential targets in space, while the SNr sends a robust inhibitory projection (Graybiel and Ragsdale, 1979), which likely conveys the necessary values associated with individual targets that are required to select among them (Handel and Glimcher, 2000;Basso and Wurtz, 2002;Sato and Hikosaka, 2002;Bryden et al, 2011). Additionally, cerebellar projections to the SCid may be critical in conveying predictive information regarding the position of effectors throughout the trajectory of the movement (Ohyama et al, 2003;Shadmehr, 2017;Owens et al, 2018;Becker and Person, 2019), ultimately mediating successful target acquisition. Indeed, studies performing muscimol inactivation of the cFN in monkeys making saccades to visual targets concluded that cerebellotectal projections might provide the SCid with information about the displacement needed to acquire spatial targets (Goffart et al, 1998).…”

Functional convergence of autonomic and sensorimotor processing in the lateral cerebellum

“…This finding elaborates on several behavioral studies demonstrating the role of the cerebellum in synergistic control of diverse motor domains. For example, the olivocerebellar system has been shown to be involved in the coordination between eye and hand movements (Kitazawa et al, 1998; Vinueza Veloz et al, 2015; Owens et al, 2018), between trunk and limb movements (Bakker et al, 2006; Caliandro et al, 2017), as well as between shoulder, arm and finger movements (Thach et al, 1993; Timmann et al, 2000). The current study amasses to that lot by demonstrating for the first time functional convergence of autonomic and sensorimotor behaviors on single Purkinje cells.…”

“…When different forms of sensorimotor behaviors have to be coordinated, the olivocerebellar system is often involved in optimal fine-tuning in time and space (Kitazawa et al, 1998; Vinueza Veloz et al, 2015; Owens et al, 2018). This presumably not only holds for non-rhythmic behaviors, but also for rhythmic behaviors like respiration (Gozal et al, 1995; Parsons et al, 2001; Isaev et al, 2002; McKay et al, 2003; Cao et al, 2012; Raux et al, 2013; Critchley et al, 2015; Park et al, 2016).…”

Functional Convergence of Autonomic and Sensorimotor Processing in the Lateral Cerebellum

“…When different forms of sensorimotor behaviors have to be coordinated, the olivocerebellar system is often involved in optimal fine-tuning in time and space ( Kitazawa et al., 1998 ; Owens et al., 2018 ; Vinueza Veloz et al., 2015 ). This presumably not only holds for non-rhythmic behaviors, but also for rhythmic behaviors like respiration ( Cao et al., 2012 ; Critchley et al., 2015 ; Gozal et al., 1995 ; Isaev et al., 2002 ; Liu et al., 2020 ; McKay et al., 2003 ; Park et al., 2016 ; Parsons et al., 2001 ; Raux et al., 2013 ).…”