Evidence for topographic organization in the cerebellum of motor control versus cognitive and affective processing

By Catherine J. Stoodley, Jeremy D. Schmahmann. Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior, 2010

1,334 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Patients with cerebellar damage often present with the cerebellar motor syndrome of dysmetria, dysarthria and ataxia, yet cerebellar lesions can also result in the cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome, including executive, visual-spatial, and linguistic impairments, and affective dysregulation. We have hypothesized that there is topographic organization in the human cerebellum such that the anterior lobe and lobule VIII contain the representation of the sensorimotor cerebellum; lobules VI and VII of the posterior lobe comprise the cognitive cerebellum; and the posterior vermis is the anatomical substrate of the limbic cerebellum. Here we analyze anatomical, functional neuroimaging, and clinical data to test this hypothesis. We find converging lines of evidence supporting regional organization of motor, cognitive, and limbic behaviors in the cerebellum. The cerebellar motor syndrome results when lesions involve the anterior lobe and parts of lobule VI, interrupting cerebellar communication with cerebral and spinal motor systems. Cognitive impairments occur when posterior lobe lesions affect lobules VI and VII (including Crus I, Crus II, and lobule VIIB), disrupting cerebellar modulation of cognitive loops with cerebral association cortices. Neuropsychiatric disorders manifest when vermis lesions deprive cerebrocerebellar limbic loops of cerebellar input. We consider this functional topography to be a consequence of the differential arrangement of connections of the cerebellum with the spinal cord, brainstem, and cerebral hemispheres, reflecting cerebellar incorporation into the distributed neural circuits subserving movement, cognition, and emotion. These observations provide testable hypotheses for future investigations.

Subfields: Endocrine and Autonomic Systems, Neurology, Sensory Systems

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/338bfe37e98a99065b8d03df695ee157ca92dba9

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Endocrine and Autonomic Systems

In Neurology

In Sensory Systems

Citations in the corpus

A review and synthesis of the first 20 years of PET and fMRI studies of heard speech, spoken language and reading (2012, background): “In the bilateral medial superior posterior cerebellum, activation related to articulation was located in lobule VI/Crus I (Stoodley and Schmahmann, 2009, 2010; Peeva et al., 2010; Durisko and Fiez, 2010).”
Functional topography of the cerebellum for motor and cognitive tasks: an fMRI study (2011, background): “…have proposed that there is a functional topography of the cerebellum , based on its linkages with sensorimotor and higher-order brain areas (see Schmahmann, 1991, 2004; Stoodley and Schmahmann, 2010), such that different cerebellar regions process sensorimotor, cognitive and affective information.”
Functional Topography of the Cerebellum in Verbal Working Memory (2010, background): “…for complex motor patterns and covert speech as part of working memory (but not motor execution per se); and the inferior cerebellum (Lobules VIIB/VIII) supports working memory independent of motor execution (Durisko and Fiez 2010; Hulsmann et al. 2003; Stoodley and Schmahmann 2009, 2010).”
Deep Cerebellar Nuclei Play an Important Role in Two-Tone Discrimination on Delay Eyeblink Conditioning in C57BL/6 Mice (2013, background): “Recently, the cerebellum has been reported to be critical not only for motor coordination and learning but also for cognitive function in animals, including humans [17,21,43].”
TRIPLE REPRESENTATION OF LANGUAGE, WORKING MEMORY, SOCIAL AND EMOTION PROCESSING IN THE CEREBELLUM: CONVERGENT EVIDENCE FROM TASK AND SEED-BASED RESTING-STATE FMRI ANALYSES IN A SINGLE LARGE COHORT (2018, background): “Nonmotor cerebellar activation in lobules IX and X Lobule IX is considered important for visual guidance of movement, and vestibular function is attributed to lobule X (Voogd et al., 1996; Stoodley and Schmahmann, 2010).”
Consensus Paper: Roles of the Cerebellum in Motor Control—The Diversity of Ideas on Cerebellar Involvement in Movement (2011, neutral): “suggested to involve the cerebellum [106, 222].”