Non-invasive Brain Stimulation of the Cerebellum in Emotion

Klaus, Jana; Schutter, Dennis J.L.G.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-99550-8_8

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 58 publications

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“…For example, five patients with lesions of the cerebellar vermis demonstrated a lack of fear conditioned bradycardia, even though no differences were found with matched controls regarding skin conduction responses (Maschke et al, 2002). Additionally, non-invasive brain stimulation could provide a method for altering cerebellar activity during fear extinction (Klaus and Schutter, 2022), and test fMRI observations. For instance, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex before and during extinction was found to change connectivity in the anterior lobe of the cerebellum and lobule VI (Ganho-Ávila et al, 2022).…”

Section: The Role Of the Cerebellum In Fear Extinction: Evidence From...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The cerebellum and fear extinction: evidence from rodent and human studies

Doubliez

Nio

Senovilla-Sanz

et al. 2023

Front. Syst. Neurosci.

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The role of the cerebellum in emotional control has gained increasing interest, with studies showing it is involved in fear learning and memory in both humans and rodents. This review will focus on the contributions of the cerebellum to the extinction of learned fear responses. Extinction of fearful memories is critical for adaptive behaviour, and is clinically relevant to anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, in which deficits in extinction processes are thought to occur. We present evidence that supports cerebellar involvement in fear extinction, from rodent studies that investigate molecular mechanisms and functional connectivity with other brain regions of the known fear extinction network, to fMRI studies in humans. This evidence is considered in relation to the theoretical framework that the cerebellum is involved in the formation and updating of internal models of the inner and outer world by detecting errors between predicted and actual outcomes. In the case of fear conditioning, these internal models are thought to predict the occurrence of an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US), and when the aversive US is unexpectedly omitted during extinction learning the cerebellum uses prediction errors to update the internal model. Differences between human and rodent studies are highlighted to help inform future work.

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Section: The Role Of the Cerebellum In Fear Extinction: Evidence From...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The cerebellum and fear extinction: evidence from rodent and human studies

Doubliez

Nio

Senovilla-Sanz

et al. 2023

Front. Syst. Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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The Predictive Role of the Posterior Cerebellum in the Processing of Dynamic Emotions

Malatesta,

D’Anselmo,

Prete

et al. 2023

Cerebellum

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Recent studies have bolstered the important role of the cerebellum in high-level socio-affective functions. In particular, neuroscientific evidence shows that the posterior cerebellum is involved in social cognition and emotion processing, presumably through its involvement in temporal processing and in predicting the outcomes of social sequences. We used cerebellar transcranial random noise stimulation (ctRNS) targeting the posterior cerebellum to affect the performance of 32 healthy participants during an emotion discrimination task, including both static and dynamic facial expressions (i.e., transitioning from a static neutral image to a happy/sad emotion). ctRNS, compared to the sham condition, significantly reduced the participants’ accuracy to discriminate static sad facial expressions, but it increased participants’ accuracy to discriminate dynamic sad facial expressions. No effects emerged with happy faces. These findings may suggest the existence of two different circuits in the posterior cerebellum for the processing of negative emotional stimuli: a first-time-independent mechanism which can be selectively disrupted by ctRNS, and a second time-dependent mechanism of predictive "sequence detection" which can be selectively enhanced by ctRNS. This latter mechanism might be included among the cerebellar operational models constantly engaged in the rapid adjustment of social predictions based on dynamic behavioral information inherent to others’ actions. We speculate that it might be one of the basic principles underlying the understanding of other individuals’ social and emotional behaviors during interactions.

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Cerebellar Neurostimulation for Boosting Social and Affective Functions: Implications for the Rehabilitation of Hereditary Ataxia Patients

Ciricugno,

Oldrati,

Cattaneo

et al. 2024

Cerebellum

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Beyond motor deficits, spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) patients also suffer cognitive decline and show socio-affective difficulties, negatively impacting on their social functioning. The possibility to modulate cerebello-cerebral networks involved in social cognition through cerebellar neurostimulation has opened up potential therapeutic applications for ameliorating social and affective difficulties. The present review offers an overview of the research on cerebellar neurostimulation for the modulation of socio-affective functions in both healthy individuals and different clinical populations, published in the time period 2000–2022. A total of 25 records reporting either transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) or transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) studies were found. The investigated clinical populations comprised different pathological conditions, including but not limited to SCA syndromes. The reviewed evidence supports that cerebellar neurostimulation is effective in improving social abilities in healthy individuals and reducing social and affective symptoms in different neurological and psychiatric populations associated with cerebellar damage or with impairments in functions that involve the cerebellum. These findings encourage to further explore the rehabilitative effects of cerebellar neurostimulation on socio-affective deficits experienced by patients with cerebellar abnormalities, as SCA patients. Nevertheless, conclusions remain tentative at this stage due to the heterogeneity characterizing stimulation protocols, study methodologies and patients’ samples.

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Non-invasive Brain Stimulation of the Cerebellum in Emotion

Cited by 4 publications

References 58 publications

The cerebellum and fear extinction: evidence from rodent and human studies

The cerebellum and fear extinction: evidence from rodent and human studies

The Predictive Role of the Posterior Cerebellum in the Processing of Dynamic Emotions

Cerebellar Neurostimulation for Boosting Social and Affective Functions: Implications for the Rehabilitation of Hereditary Ataxia Patients

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