Cerebellum

The cerebellum is involved in motor control.

The cerebellum does not initiate movement.

It contributes to coordination, precision, and accurate timing: it receives input from sensory systems of the spinal cord and m other parts of the brain.

It integrates these inputs to fine-tune motor activity.

 

Cerebellar damage produces disorders in fine movement, equilibrium, posture, and motor learning in humans.

It may also be involved in some cognitive functions such as attention and language as well as emotional control such as regulating fear and pleasure responses.

The cerebellum is necessary for several types of motor learning, most notably learning to adjust to changes in sensorimotor relationships.

Several theoretical models have been developed to explain sensorimotor calibration in terms of synaptic plasticity within the cerebellum. These models derive from those formulated by David Marr and James Albus, based on the observation that each cerebellar Purkinje cell receives two dramatically different types of input: one comprises thousands of weak inputs from the parallel fibers of the granule cells; the other is an extremely strong input from a single climbing fiber. 

The basic concept of the Marr–Albus theory is that the climbing fiber serves as a "teaching signal", which induces a long-lasting change in the strength of parallel fiber inputs.

 

Structure

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