Both sides of human cerebellum involved in preparation and execution of sequential movements (original) (raw)
Related papers
From will to action: sequential cerebellar contributions to voluntary movement
NeuroImage, 2003
The cerebellum is known to be involved in numerous motor related functions, but recent observations suggest that it also performs fundamental operations on nonmotor functions such as perception and cognition. Assuming that the cerebellum has to be consulted in a limited window of time, cerebellar activation should occur in a time-dependent manner in respect to the corresponding telencephalic areas. This hypothesis was tested by combining a simple motor task with the demand of a self-paced delay using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. Evaluation with a time-shifted canonical hemodynamic response function revealed spatially and temporally separated cerebral and cerebellar activation accompanying the entire process-from conscious planning to final motor output-within a time frame of 6 s. The cerebral activations spread from the anterior cingulate cortex through the supplementary motor and premotor area to the primary motor and sensory cortices. This cascade was temporally in parallel with cerebellar activations propagating from the neo-to the spinocerebellum. An early lateral cerebellar recruitment 3 s prior movement onset confirms its involvement in cognitive processing. A later medial activation occurring close to movement onset most probably reflects spinocerebellar kinesthetic feedback. Between these two points a striking lateromedial succession was found, which is in line with the hypothesis of the existence of multiple internal models residing in the cerebellum, each communicating with its own corresponding telencephalic region.
Cerebellar activation during discrete and not continuous timed movements: An fMRI study
NeuroImage, 2007
Individuals with cerebellar lesions are impaired in the timing of repetitive movements that involve the concatenation of discrete events such as tapping a finger. In contrast, these individuals perform comparably to controls when producing continuous repetitive movements. Based on this, we have proposed that the cerebellum plays a key role in event timing-the representation of the temporal relationship between salient events related to the movement (e.g., flexion onset or contact with a response surface). In the current study, we used fMRI to examine cerebellar activity during discrete and continuous rhythmic movements. Participants produced rhythmic movements with the index finger either making smooth, continuous transitions between flexion and extension or with a pause inserted before each flexion phase making the movement discrete. Lateral regions in lobule VI, ipsilateral to the moving hand were activated in a similar manner for both conditions. However, activation in the superior vermis was significantly greater when the movements were discrete compared to when the movements were continuous. This pattern was not evident in cortical regions within the field of view, including M1 and SMA. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that subregions of the cerebellum are selectively engaged during tasks involving event timing.
Functional topography of the cerebellum for motor and cognitive tasks: An fMRI study
NeuroImage, 2012
Anatomical, clinical and imaging findings suggest that the cerebellum is engaged in cognitive and affective functions as well as motor control. Evidence from converging modalities also indicates that there is a functional topography in the human cerebellum for overt control of movement vs. higher functions, such that the cerebellum can be divided into zones depending on connectivity with sensorimotor vs. multimodal association cortices. Using functional MRI, we show that regions active during overt movement differ from those involved in higher-level language, spatial processing and working memory tasks. Nine healthy participants each completed five tasks in order to determine the relative activation patterns for the different paradigms. Right-handed finger-tapping activated right cerebellar lobules IV-V and VIII, consistent with descriptions of the cerebellar homunculi. Verb generation engaged right cerebellar lobules VI-Crus I and a second cluster in lobules VIIB-VIIIA. Mental rotation activation peaks were localized to medial left cerebellar lobule VII (Crus II). A 2-back working memory task activated bilateral regions of lobules VI-VII. Viewing arousing vs. neutral images did not reliably activate the cerebellum or cerebral limbic areas in this study. The cerebellar functional topography identified in this study reflects the involvement of different cerebro-cerebellar circuits depending on the demands of the task being performed: overt movement activated sensorimotor cortices along with contralateral cerebellar lobules IV-V and VIII, whereas more cognitively demanding tasks engaged prefrontal and parietal cortices along with cerebellar lobules VI and VII. These findings provide further support for a cerebellar role in both motor and cognitive tasks, and better establish the existence of functional subregions in the cerebellum. Future studies are needed to determine the exact contribution of the cerebellumand different cerebro-cerebellar circuitsto task performance.
The role of the cerebellum in motor imagery
Neuroscience letters, 2016
Although it is well documented that the cerebellum plays a role in motor imagery (MI), its exact role in MI is still obscure. Since motor imagery and execution of movement share common pathways, and the cerebellum has an inhibitory effect on the motor cortex, we speculated that the cerebellum also has an inhibitory role on MI. To test this hypothesis, 12 healthy individuals aged 27-47 years (mean age 33.3 years) were enrolled in the study. Subjects were asked to imagine two different tasks, one complex (MI-c) and one simple (MI-s) motor task. The intensity of anodal cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (ctDCS) was set at 2mA for 20min. Sham ctDCS consisted of 30s current stimulation. MI-s resulted in significantly increased log MEP amplitude during MI, compared with control MEP amplitude,(p=0.000). The increase in log MEP amplitude during MI disappeared after anodal ctDCS. Before sham ctDCS, both MI-s and MI-c resulted in log MEP amplitude increases (p=0.000). This fac...
Processing of multiple kinematic signals in the cerebellum and motor cortices
Brain Research Reviews, 2000
The cerebellum and motor cortices are hypothesized to make fundamentally different but synergistic contributions to the control of movement. Richly interconnected, these structures must communicate and translate salient parameters of movement. This review examines the similarities and differences in the encoding of multiple limb movement parameters in the cerebellum and motor cortices. Also presented are recent data on direction and speed coding by cerebellar Purkinje cells and primary motor and dorsal premotor cortical neurons during a visually-instructed, manual tracking task. Both similarities and differences have been found in the way that these two motor areas process movement parameters. For example, the two motor control structures encode direction with almost identical depths of modulation, which may simplify the exchange of directional signals. Two major differences between the cerebellum and motor cortices consist of the distribution of the preferred directions and the manner in which direction and speed are jointly signaled within the discharge of individual neurons. First, an anterior-posterior distribution of preferred directions has been shown for both reaching and manual tracking, consistent with an intrinsic reference frame and / or the structure of afferent input. In contrast, neurons in the motor cortices have uniformly distributed preferred directions, consistent with general purpose directional calculations. Secondly, Purkinje cells in the cerebellum and motor cortices combine movement direction and speed information differently. For example, Purkinje cell discharge encodes combinations of direction and speed, a 'preferred velocity', while the motor cortical neurons use a temporal parcellation scheme to encode multiple parameters of movement. These results demonstrate that the cerebellum and motor cortices process and use kinematic information in fundamentally different ways that may underlie the functional uniqueness of the two motor control structures.
Role of the cerebellum in movements: control of timing or movement transitions?
2005
Patients with cerebellar damage are impaired on a range of timed tasks. However, recent research has indicated that the impairment on temporal production tasks is limited to discontinuous movements. The present experiments were designed to compare two accounts for the increased temporal variability observed in these patients when producing discontinuous movements.
Cerebellar Structures and the Programming of Movement Sequences
Behavioural Neurology, 1990
Two patients with unilateral damage to the medial and lateral cerebellum were examined to determine whether local structures in the cerebellum are used to execute programmed movement sequences. Both patients performed a sequential tapping task which required the execution of either a single keystroke or of a sequence of three keystrokes. Movements executed with the contralateral hand showed increases in response onset times as the movement sequence increased from one to three response elements (sequence length effect). Furthermore, noninitial response elements were executed considerably faster than sequence initial responses (position effect). Movements executed with the ipsilateral hand showed a different pattern of results. Damage to medial cerebellar structure had no qualifying effect but damage to the lateral cerebellar structure eliminated effects of sequence length and of response position. The results suggest that the lateral cerebellum is implicated in the execution of progr...
The Cerebellum, 2012
In the present paper, we examine the role of the cerebellar interpositus nucleus (IN) in motor and non-motor domains. Recent findings are considered, and we share the following conclusions: IN as part of the olivo-corticonuclear microcircuit is involved in providing powerful timing signals important in coordinating limb movements; IN could participate in the timing and performance of ongoing conditioned responses rather than the generation and/or initiation of such responses; IN is involved in the control of reflexive and voluntary movements in a task-and effector system-dependent fashion, including hand movements and associated upper limb adjustments, for quick effective actions; IN develops internal models for dynamic interactions of the motor system with the external environment for anticipatory control of movement; and IN plays a significant role in the modulation of autonomic and emotional functions.
Experimental Brain Research, 2006
The speciWc motor control processes supported by the cerebellum and impaired with cerebellar damage remain unclear. The cerebellum has been implicated in both planning and updating of accurate movements. Previously, we used a statistical model to parcel aiming performance that was constrained by a timedresponse paradigm into contributions attributed to a speciWed plan and feedforward updating. Here, we apply this procedure to determine the putative role of the cerebellum in planning and updating goal-directed aiming by comparing the performance of subjects with unilateral cerebellar stroke to controls. Subjects rapidly moved to targets in predictable or unpredictable conditions and cerebellar subjects used the contralesional limb to control for ipsilesional motor execution deWcits. Displacement-derived movement velocity was used in the statistical model to determine the eVect of planning and updating on accuracy. Compared to controls, the cerebellar group demonstrated errors in Wnal position that were primarily determined by planning deWcits. This Wnding is manifest in four ways: Cerebellar subjects (1) were less accurate than controls in both predictable and unpredictable conditions; (2) they showed minimal ben-eWt from increased preparation time for target amplitude speciWcation; (3) with ample time to plan direction, wrong direction response frequency was greater; and (4) Wnal position was minimally determined by the plan. Because these deWcits were found contralesional to the moving limb, the cerebellum's role in planning is not lateralized to one hemisphere but rather our Wndings suggest that cerebellar output aVects motor planning for both upper limbs. Indeed, a lesion analysis showed that the dentate nucleus, an area implicated in planning motor strategies and the primary cerebellar output nucleus, was the only common region aVected by our patient group with contralateral cerebellar strokes.