Cerebellar involvement in executive control |
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Authors: | Christian Bellebaum Irene Daum |
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Institution: | Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Neuropsychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany. christian.bellebaum@rub.de |
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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. |
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Keywords: | Cerebello-thalamo-cortical cerebellar cognitive loop |
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