Cerebellum-like structures

Abstract

The central nervous systems of most vertebrates include both a cerebellum and structures with a circuitry that is similar to the cerebellum. These cerebellum-like structures are sensory structures that receive input from sensory receptors in their deep layers and input from a mossy fiber-granule cell-parallel fiber system in their molecular layers. This chapter describes these cerebellum-like structures and compares them with the cerebellum itself. Cerebellum-like structures in fish have been shown to act as adaptive sensory processors in which the signals conveyed by parallel fibers come to predict patterns of peripheral sensory input through a process of associative synaptic plasticity. The many similarities between cerebellum-like structures and the cerebellum itself suggest that the cerebellum may also generate predictions about expected sensory input patterns, as suggested also by clinical, experimental, and theoretical studies of the cerebellum. Hence, understanding the mechanisms for predicting sensory patterns in cerebellum-like structures may be a source of insight into cerebellar function.