Cerebro-cerebellar networks

Abstract

Considering the cerebellum an independent structure devoted mainly in motor control functions, traditionally neuroscience research has considerably neglected the importance of cerebellar contribution to non-motor functions. However, the cerebellar anatomo-functional connections to different large scale networks of the neocortex -including frontal and parietal regions typically involved in high-order cognitive processing- suggests its primary role also outside the motor control. Histologically the cerebellum contains about 50 billion neurons-roughly half of the total number of neurons in the whole brain, and this impressive order of magnitude supports extremely powerful mechanisms for processing information (Ramnani, Nat Rev Neurosci 7:511-522, 2006). The defi nition of input-output organization between cerebellum and cerebral cortex will help to clarify the role of the cerebellum in higher cognitive functions because these connections provide the means through which association areas and the cerebellum may infl uence each other’s operations (Ramnani, Cerebellum 11:366-383, 2012).