title: Cerebellar vermis plays a causal role in visual motion discrimination.
abstract: Cerebellar patients have been found to show deficits in visual motion discrimination, suggesting that the cerebellum may play a role in visual sensory processing beyond mediating motor control. Here we show that triple-pulse online transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over cerebellar vermis but not over the cerebellar hemispheres significantly impaired motion discrimination. Critically, the interference caused by vermis TMS on motion discrimination did not depend on an indirect effect of TMS over nearby visual areas, as demonstrated by a control experiment in which TMS over V1 but not over cerebellar vermis significantly impaired orientation discrimination. These findings demonstrate the causal role of the cerebellar vermis in visual motion processing in neurologically normal participants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy; Brain Connectivity Center, National Neurological Institute C. Mondino, Pavia, Italy. Electronic address: zaira.cattaneo@unimib.it.
authors.forename: Zaira
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cattaneo
authors.affiliation: Brain Connectivity Center, National Neurological Institute C. Mondino, Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Renzi
authors.affiliation: Brain Connectivity Center, National Neurological Institute C. Mondino, Pavia, Italy; Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Casali
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Westminster, UK; Brain Research Unit, O.V. Lounasmaa Laboratory, School of Science, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland.
authors.forename: Juha
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Silvanto
authors.affiliation: Brain Connectivity Center, National Neurological Institute C. Mondino, Pavia, Italy; Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: Tomaso
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vecchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Costanza
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Papagno
authors.affiliation: Brain Connectivity Center, National Neurological Institute C. Mondino, Pavia, Italy; Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: Egidio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: D'Angelo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D065814:Cerebellar Vermis / Q000502:physiology*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cerebellum; Motion detection; Orientation discrimination; TMS; Visual