Does the Cerebellum Contribute to Unconscious Affective Processing?

Abstract

The cerebellum is known to be involved in motor processing. However, decade-long studies have demonstrated that the cerebellum is also related to non-motor processes including cognitions and emotions. Moreover, the cerebellar contribution to unconscious motor processing is known, but it remains unclear whether the cerebellum is engaged in unconscious non-motor processing. We conducted functional MRI to examine the cerebellar contribution to unconscious affective processing related to subliminal emotional faces. We found that lobule VI of the right cerebellum showed increased activation for supraliminal angry faces, but not for subliminal emotional faces. These results suggest that there are no cerebellar contributions to unconscious affective processing.