Abstract
For a long time, the cerebellum has been known to be a structure related to posture and equilibrium control. According to the anatomic structure of inputs and internal structure of the cerebellum, its role in learning was theoretically reasoned and experimentally proved. The hypothesis of an inverse internal model based on feedback-error learning mechanism combines feedforward control by the cerebellum and feedback control by the cerebral motor cortex. The cerebellar cortex is suggested to acquire internal models of the body and objects in the external world. During learning of a new tool the motor cortex receives feedback from the realized movement while the cerebellum produces only feedforward command. To realize a desired movement without feedback of the realized movement, the cerebellum needs to form an inverse model of the hand/ arm system. This suggestion was supported by FMRi data. The role of cerebellum in learning new postural tasks mainly concerns reorganization of natural synergies. A learned postural pattern in dogs has been shown to be disturbed after lesions of the cerebral motor cortex or cerebellar nuclei. In humans, learning voluntary control of center of pressure position is greatly disturbed after cerebellar lesions. However, motor cortex and basal ganglia are also involved in the feedback learning postural tasks.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barlow JB. The cerebellum and adaptive control. New York: Cambridge University Press; 2002.
Dichgans J, Diener HC. Different forms of postural ataxia in patients with cerebellar diseases. In: Igarashi M, Black FO, editors. Disorders of posture and gait. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 1986. pp 207–13.
Diener HC, Dichgans J. Pathophysiology of cerebellar ataxia. Mot Disord. 1992;7:95–109.
Dow RS, Moruzzi G. The physiology and pathology of the cerebellum. Minneapolis: Univ. Minnesota Press, 1958.
Herrick CJ. Neurological foundation of animal behavior. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1924.
Holmes G. The cerebellum of man. Brain. 1939;62:1–30.
Horak FB, Nashner LM, Diener HC. Postural synergies associated with somatosensory and vestibular loss. Exp Brain Res. 1993;82:167–77.
Luciani L. Il cervelletto. Nuovi studi di fisiologia normale e patologica. Firenze, Le Monnier, 1891.
Babinski J. De l’asynergie cerebelleuse. Rev Neurol. 1899;7:806–16.
Diener HC, Dichgans J, Bacher M, Gompf B. Quantification of postural sway in normals and patients with cerebellar diseases. Electroencephalog Clin Neurophysiol. 1984;57: 134–42.
Ito M. The cerebellum and neural control. New York: Raven Press; 1984.
Schoch B, Dimitrova A, Gizewski ER, Timmann D. Functional localization in the human cerebellum based on voxelwise statistical analysis: a study of 90 patients. Neuroimage. 2006;30:36–51.
Massion J. Postural control system. Curr Opin Biol. 1994;4:877–87.
Horak FB, Nashner LM. Central programming of postural movements: adaptation to altered support-surface configuration. J Neurophysiol. 1986;55:1369–81.
Allum JHJ, Honegger F, Schicks H. Vestibular and proprioceptive modulation of postural synergies in normal subjects. J Vestibular Res. 1993;3:59–85.
Horak FB, Diener HC. Cerebellar control of postural scaling and central set in stance. J Neurophysiol. 1994;72: 479–93.
Shumilina AI. On participation of pyramidal and extrapyramidal systems in motor activity of a deafferented limb. In: Anokhin PK, editor. Problems of higher nervous activity. Moscow: AMN SSSR; 1949. pp 176–85 (in Russian).
Belen’kii VE, Gurfinkel’ VS, Pal’tsev EI. Control elements of voluntary movements. Biofizika. 1967;12:135–41 (in Russian).
Diener HC, Dichgans J, Guschlbauer B, Bacher M, Rapp H, Langenbach P. Associated postural adjustments with body movement in normal subjects and patients with parkinsonism and cerebellar disease. Rev Neurol (Paris). 1990;146:555–63.
Diedrichsen J, Verstynen T, Lehman SL, Ivry RB. Cerebellar involvement in anticipating the consequences of self-produced actions during bimanual movements. J Neurophysiol. 2005;93:801–12.
Brindley GS. The use made by the cerebellum of the information that it receives from sense organs. Int Brain Res Org Bull. 1964;3:80.
Marr D. A theory of cerebellar cortex. J Physiol. 1969;202:437–70.
Albus JS. A theory of cerebellar function. Math Biosci. 1971;10:25–61.
Thach WT. On the specific role of the cerebellum in motor learning and cognition: clues from PET activation and lesion studies in man. Behav Brain Sci. 1996;19:411–31.
Campbell NC, Ekerot CF, Hesslow G, Oscarsson O. Dendritic plateau potentials evoked in Purkinje cells by parallel fiber volleys in the cat. J Physiol. 1983;340:209–23.
Sasaki K, Gemba H. Learning of fast and stable hand movement and cerebro-cerbellar interactions in the monkey. Brain Res. 1983;277:41–6.
Houk JC, Buckingham JT, Barto AG. Models of the cerebellum and motor learning. Behav Brain Sci. 1996;19:368–83.
Ito M. Mechanisms of motor learning in the cerebellum. Brain Res. 2000;886:237–45.
Ito M. Cerebellar long-term depression: characterization, signal transduction, and functional roles. Physiol Rev. 2001;81:1143–95.
Llinas R, Welsh JP. On the cerebellum and motor learning. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 1993;3:958–65.
Thach WT, Goodkin HP, Keating JG. The cerebellum and the adaptive coordination of movement. Ann Rev Neurosci. 1992;15:403–42.
Miles FA, Lisberger SG. Plasticity in the vestibulo-ocular reflex: a new hypothesis. Ann Rev Neurosci. 1981;4:273–99.
Boyden ES, Katoh A, Raymond JL. Cerebellum-dependent learning: the role of multiple plasticity mechanisms. Ann Rev Neurosci. 2004;27:581–609.
Gomi H, Kawato M. Equilibrium-point control hypothesis examined by measured arm stiffness during multijoint movement. Science. 1996;272:117–20.
Imamizu H, Miyauchi S, Tamada T, Sasaki Y, Takino R, Putz B, et al. Human cerebellar activity reflecting an acquired internal model of a new tool. Nature. 2000;403: 192–95.
Kawato M, Wolpert D. Internal models for motor control. Novartis Found Symp. 1998;218:291–304.
Schweighofer N, Doya K, Kuroda S. Cerebellar aminergic neuromodulation: towards a functional understanding. Brain Res Brain Res Rev. 2004;44:103–16.
Mauk MD. Roles of cerebellar cortex and nuclei in motor learning: contradictions or cues? Neuron. 1997;18:343–46.
Lang CE, Bastian AJ. Cerebellar damage impairs automaticity of a recently practiced movement. J Neurophysiol. 2002;87:1336–47.
Balezina NP, Varga ME, Vasilyeva ON, Ivanova NG, Ioffe ME, Pavlova OG, et al. A study of mechanisms of reorganization of motor coordination in learning. In: Airapetyants MG, editor. Brain and behavior. Moscow: Nauka; 1990. pp 105–19 (in Russian).
Balezina NP, Pavlova OG, Ioffe ME. The postural effects of the cerebellar nuclei stimulation in the dogs. In: Fanardjian VV, editor. Cerebellum and brainstem structures. Yerevan: Armenian Acad. Press; 1995. pp 179–83 (in Russian).
Timmann D, Horak FB. Perturbed step initiation in cerebellar subjects: 2. Modification of anticipatory postural adjustments. Exp Brain Res. 2001;141:110–20.
Frings M, Awad N, Jentzen W, Dimitrova A, Kolb FP, Diener HC, et al. Involvement of the human cerebellum in short-term and long-term habituation of the acoustic startleresponse: a serial PET study. Clin Neurophysiol. 2006; 117:1290–300.
Maschke M, Drepper J, Kindsvater K, Kolb FP, Diener HC, Timmann D. Involvement of the human medial cerebellum in long-term habituation of the acoustic startle-response. Exp Brain Res. 2000;133:359–67.
Schwabe A, Drepper J, Maschke M, Diener HC, Timmann D. The role of human cerebellum in schortand long-term habituation of postural response. Gait Posture. 2004; 19:16–23.
Kolb FP, Lachauer S, Maschke M, Timmann D. Classically conditioned postural reflex in cerebellar patients. Exp Brain Res. 2004;158:163–79.
Ioffe M, Ivanova N, Frolov AA, Biryukova E, Kiselyova N. On the role of motor cortex in the learned rearrangement of postural coordinations. In: Gurfinkel VS, Ioffe ME, Massion J, Roll, JP, editors. Stance and motion: facts and concepts. New York, London: Plenum Press; 1988. pp 213–26.
Ioffe M. The motor cortex inhibits synergies interfering with a learned movement: reorganization of postural coordination in dogs. In: Miller R, Ivanitsky AM, Balaban PM, editors. Complex brain function: conceptual advances in Russian neurosciences. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers; 2000. pp 289–300.
Ioffe ME, Vasilyeva ON, Balezina NP, Mats VN, Alexandrov AV. On the role of n.interpositus in the motor learning after dentate lesions in dogs. In: Stuart D, editor. Motor control-VII. Tucson, AZ: Motor Control Press; 1996. pp 181–83.
Gahery Y, Ioffe ME, Massion J, Polit A. The postural support of movement in cat and dog. Acta Neurobiol Exp. 1980;40:741–55.
Ioffe ME. Pyramidal influences in establishment of new motor coordinations in dogs. Physiol Behav. 1973;11:145–53.
Tsukahara N. Cellular basis of classical conditioning mediated by the red nucleus in the cat. In: Alkon DL, Woody CD, editors. Neural mechanisms of conditioning. New York: Plenum Press; 1986. pp 129–39.
Doya K. What are the computations of the cerebellum, of the basal ganglia, and cerebral cortex. J Neural Networks. 1999;12:961–74.
Doya K. Complementary roles of basal ganglia and cerebellum in learning and motor control. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2000;10:732–39.
Ioffe ME, Ustinova KI, Chernikova LA, Kulikov MA. Supervised learning of postural tasks in patients with poststroke hemiparesis, Parkinson’s disease or cerebellar ataxia. Exp Brain Res. 2006;168:384–94.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ioffe, M.E., Chernikova, L.A. & Ustinova, K.I. Role of cerebellum in learning postural tasks. Cerebellum 6, 87–94 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1080/14734220701216440
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14734220701216440