title: Cerebellar contributions to spatial memory.
abstract: There is mounting evidence for a role for the cerebellum in working memory (WM). The majority of relevant studies has examined verbal WM and has suggested specialisation of the right cerebellar hemisphere for language processing. Our study used theta burst stimulation (TBS) to examine whether there is a converse cerebellar hemispheric specialisation for spatial WM. We conducted two experiments to examine spatial WM performance before and after TBS to mid-hemispheric and lateral locations in the posterior cerebellum. Participants were required to recall the order of presentation of targets on a screen or the targets' order of presentation and their locations. We observed impaired recollection of target order after TBS to the mid left cerebellar hemisphere and reduced response speed after TBS to the left lateral cerebellum. We suggest that these results give evidence of the contributions of the left cerebellar cortex to the encoding and retrieval of spatial information.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Bangor University, Brigantia Building, Penrallt Road, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2AS, United Kingdom. Electronic address: pspa38@bangor.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Simon P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Tomlinson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Nick J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.affiliation: School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Tom Reilly Building, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Helen M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Bangor University, Brigantia Building, Penrallt Road, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2AS, United Kingdom; School of Medical Sciences, Bangor University, Brigantia Building, Penrallt Road, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2AS, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: R Martyn
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Bracewell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D065852:Spatial Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cognition; Laterality; Theta burst; Working memory