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Published April 26, 1996 | public
Journal Article

Cerebellum implicated in sensory acquisition and discrimination rather than motor control

Abstract

Recent evidence that the cerebellum is involved in perception and cognition challenges the prevailing view that its primary function is fine motor control. A new alternative hypothesis is that the lateral cerebellum is not activated by the control of movement per se, but is strongly engaged during the acquisition and discrimination of sensory information. Magnetic resonance imaging of the lateral cerebellar output (dentate) nucleus during passive and active sensory tasks confirmed this hypothesis. These findings suggest that the lateral cerebellum may be active during motor, perceptual, and cognitive performances specifically because of the requirement to process sensory data.

Additional Information

© 1996 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 22 September 1995; accepted 16 February 1996. We thank W. Greenough, S.-G. Kim, R. Swain, W. T. Thach, and L. Ungerleider for comments on an earlier version of this report. Supported by an EJLB Foundation grant and National Institute of Mental Health grants P20 DA52176-01 and MH/DA52145 (Human Brain Project).

Additional details

Created:
August 20, 2023
Modified:
October 18, 2023