title: Distributed cerebellar plasticity implements generalized multiple-scale memory components in real-robot sensorimotor tasks.
abstract: The cerebellum plays a crucial role in motor learning and it acts as a predictive controller. Modeling it and embedding it into sensorimotor tasks allows us to create functional links between plasticity mechanisms, neural circuits and behavioral learning. Moreover, if applied to real-time control of a neurorobot, the cerebellar model has to deal with a real noisy and changing environment, thus showing its robustness and effectiveness in learning. A biologically inspired cerebellar model with distributed plasticity, both at cortical and nuclear sites, has been used. Two cerebellum-mediated paradigms have been designed: an associative Pavlovian task and a vestibulo-ocular reflex, with multiple sessions of acquisition and extinction and with different stimuli and perturbation patterns. The cerebellar controller succeeded to generate conditioned responses and finely tuned eye movement compensation, thus reproducing human-like behaviors. Through a productive plasticity transfer from cortical to nuclear sites, the distributed cerebellar controller showed in both tasks the capability to optimize learning on multiple time-scales, to store motor memory and to effectively adapt to dynamic ranges of stimuli.
authors.affiliation: NeuroEngineering And Medical Robotics Laboratory, Department Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Casellato
authors.affiliation: NeuroEngineering And Medical Robotics Laboratory, Department Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano Milano, Italy ; Brain Connectivity Center, IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Nazionale C. Mondino Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Antonietti
authors.affiliation: Brain Connectivity Center, IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Nazionale C. Mondino Pavia, Italy ; Department of Computer Architecture and Technology, University of Granada Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Jesus A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Garrido
authors.affiliation: NeuroEngineering And Medical Robotics Laboratory, Department Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ferrigno
authors.affiliation: Brain Connectivity Center, IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Nazionale C. Mondino Pavia, Italy ; Department Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: Egidio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: D'Angelo
authors.affiliation: NeuroEngineering And Medical Robotics Laboratory, Department Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pedrocchi
keywords: cerebellar model; distributed plasticity; long term plasticity; motor learning; neurorobot