Functional Topography of the Human Cerebellum Revealed by Functional Neuroimaging Studies
Functional imaging studies in healthy subjects report cerebellar activation during a wide range of tasks, from motor execution (finger tapping, motor learning, smooth pursuit eye movements) to higher-level cognitive tasks (Tower of London, working memory
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Catherine J. Stoodley, John E. Desmond, and Jeremy D. Schmahmann
Abstract
Functional imaging studies in healthy subjects report cerebellar activation during a wide range of tasks, from motor execution (finger tapping, motor learning, smooth pursuit eye movements) to higher-level cognitive tasks (Tower of London, working memory paradigms, verbal fluency) in which motor responses are eliminated or controlled for. The anatomical connections between the cerebellum, spinal cord, and sensorimotor and association areas of the cerebral cortex suggest a functional topography exists within the human cerebellum, such that different cerebellar regions are part of distributed spinocerebellar and cerebro-cerebellar circuits. This concept is supported by data from functional imaging studies, in which regional activation patterns differ for sensorimotor vs. cognitive and affective task paradigms. Here these neuroimaging data are reviewed and both cross-task comparisons and within-task topography are considered. The evidence indicates that cerebellar activation patterns are related to the specific demands of a given task, and the localization of the activation patterns reflects the engagement of different cerebro-cerebellar circuits. Establishing cerebellar functional topography in humans has important
C.J. Stoodley (*) Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20016, USA e-mail: [email protected] J.E. Desmond Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore, MD, USA e-mail: [email protected] J.D. Schmahmann Ataxia Unit, Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology Unit, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA e-mail: [email protected] M. Manto, D.L. Gruol, J.D. Schmahmann, N. Koibuchi, F. Rossi (eds.), 735 Handbook of the Cerebellum and Cerebellar Disorders, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-1333-8_30, # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013
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implications for the interpretation of functional imaging data, the understanding of clinical outcomes in cerebellar damage or disease, and the broader understanding of the role of the cerebellum in motor and cognitive function.
Introduction For many years, the classic symptoms of cerebellar damage – including gait ataxia, dysarthria, and intention tremor – were thought to be related exclusively to impairments in the control of movement (Holmes 1939). More recently, the non-motor effects of cerebellar damage have been recognized as a clinical syndrome (the cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome, CCAS; Schmahman and Sherman 1998). This – along with functional imaging studies revealing cerebellar activation during a range of tasks, from language to spatial to affective processing – has sparked renewed interest in the idea that the human cerebellum may have a role beyond the control of movement. However, it is clear that not all patients with cerebellar damage or degeneration experience CCAS (e.g., see Co
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