Multiple subclasses of purkinje cells in the primate floccular complex provide similar signals to guide learning in the vestibulo-ocular reflex

Abstract

The neural 'learning rules' governing the induction of plasticity in the cerebellum were analyzed by recording the patterns of neural activity in awake, behaving animals during stimuli that induce a form of cerebellum- dependent learning. We recorded the simple- and complex-spike responses of a broad sample of Purkinje cells in the floccular complex during a number of stimulus conditions that induce motor learning in the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR). Each subclass of Purkinje cells carried essentially the same information about required changes in the gain of the VOR. The correlation of simple-spike activity in Purkinje cells with activity in vestibular pathways could guide learning during low-frequency but not high-frequency stimuli. Climbing fiber activity could guide learning during all stimuli tested but only if compared with the activity present ~100 msec earlier in either vestibular pathways or Purkinje cells.