Cerebellar involvement in executive control.
The cerebellum has long been considered to be mainly involved in motor function. In the last 20 years, evidence from neuroimaging studies and from investigations of patients with cerebellar lesions has shown that the cerebellum plays a role in a range of cognitive functions. While cerebellar contributions have been shown for learning and memory, the cerebellum has also been linked to higher order cognitive control processes frequently referred to as executive functions. Although it is widely accepted that the cerebellum contributes to cognitive processing, the nature of cerebellar involvement is not well understood. The present paper focuses on the role of the cerebellum in executive processing, reviewing findings derived from neuroimaging studies or from studies investigating deficits related to cerebellar dysfunction. As executive functions cannot be considered as a unitary concept, special emphasis is put on cerebellar contributions to different aspects of executive control such as working memory, multitasking or inhibition. Referring to models derived from motor control, possible mechanisms of cerebellar involvement in executive processing are discussed. Finally, methodological problems in assessing executive deficits in general and in assessing the cerebellar contribution to executive processing in particular are addressed.
Bellebaum
Christian
C
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Neuropsychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany. christian.bellebaum@rub.de
Daum
Irene
I
D002531:Cerebellum / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology*