Development of brain structures following perinatal cerebral lesions suggests the involvement of the cerebellum in the working memory network

openCrossed cerebro-cerebellar diaschisis in very preterm born individuals, following perinatal cerebral lesions, reveals functional connectivity between some cerebral areas involved in working memory (WM) and yet undefined cerebellar regions: this may support the role of the latter in the WM network. The cerebellum has long been associated with motor control and coordination. In the last two decades, researchers have studied its involvement in a broad range of cognitive functions, such as visuospatial attention and WM. In this overview, I define the brain regions activated by the WM network and their development in term- and very preterm- infants compared, according to the most recent studies. These findings could contribute to support the involvement of the cerebellum in non-motor functions, specifically in WM.Crossed cerebro-cerebellar diaschisis in very preterm born individuals, following perinatal cerebral lesions, reveals functional connectivity between some cerebral areas involved in working memory (WM) and yet undefined cerebellar regions: this may support the role of the latter in the WM network. The cerebellum has long been associated with motor control and coordination. In the last two decades, researchers have studied its involvement in a broad range of cognitive functions, such as visuospatial attention and WM. In this overview, I define the brain regions activated by the WM network and their development in term- and very preterm- infants compared, according to the most recent studies. These findings could contribute to support the involvement of the cerebellum in non-motor functions, specifically in WM

A Behavior-to-Brain Map

Development and study of large-scale computational models of the human brain, and their use to simulate cognitive functions, is becoming increasingly feasible. However, construction of integrated models that span multiple cognitive systems (language, memory, reasoning, learning, sensorimotor control, executive functions, etc.) is currently inhibited by the absence of any systematic catalog of experimentally documented associations between specific behavioral functions and specific brain regions. In this report we provide a prototype for such a mapping in the form of a semantic network. While preliminary and not comprehensive, the results presented here support the idea that an online mapping between cognitive function and cortical/subcortical structures can be developed as a useful reference source

Italian version of the Cerebellar Cognitive Affective Syndrome Scale: Preliminary data collection and analysis.

openThe Cerebellar Cognitive Affective Syndrome (CCAS) is caused by various types of cerebellare disease and injury and consists in deficit in the domains of executive functions, visuospatial and linguistic abilities and affects regulation. To detect the presence of this syndrome, Hoche et al. (2018) have developed the CCAS scale, that is now widely validated. The goal of the present project is to describe the preliminary collection of the CCAS scale italian population normative data and to conduct an initial analysis of the obtained results.The Cerebellar Cognitive Affective Syndrome (CCAS) is caused by various types of cerebellare disease and injury and consists in deficit in the domains of executive functions, visuospatial and linguistic abilities and affects regulation. To detect the presence of this syndrome, Hoche et al. (2018) have developed the CCAS scale, that is now widely validated. The goal of the present project is to describe the preliminary collection of the CCAS scale italian population normative data and to conduct an initial analysis of the obtained results

Programming the cerebellum

It is argued that large-scale neural network simulations of cerebellar cortex and nuclei, based on realistic compartmental models of me major cell populations, are necessary before the problem of motor learning in the cerebellum can be solved, [HOUK et al.; SIMPSON et al.

The Eye of a Mathematical Physicist

In this essay we are searching for neural correlates of ‘doing mathematical physics'. We introduce a toy model of a mathematical physicist, a brain connected with the outside world only by vision and saccadic eye movements and interacting with a computer screen. First, we describe the neuroanatomy of the visuo-saccadic system and Listing's law, which binds saccades and the optics of the eye. Then we explain space-time transformations in the superior colliculus, the performance of a canonical cortical circuit in the frontal eye field and finally the recurrent interaction of both areas, which leads to a coherent percept of space in spite of saccades. This sets the stage in the brain for doing mathematical physics, which is analyzed in simple example

Dysfunctions in sensorimotor control and decision processing in schizophrenia

Στην παρούσα εργασία μελετήθηκε η βιβλιογραφία η σχετιζόμενη με την δυσλειτουργία του κινητικοαισθητικού ελέγχου και της επεξεργασίας λήψης αποφάσεων στην σχιζοφρένεια. Αρχικά, στην εισαγωγή γίνεται μια σύντομη περιγραφή των πιο χαρακτηριστικών συμπτωμάτων της διαταραχής. Ακολουθεί η ανατομική παρουσίαση των εγκεφαλικών δικτύων που μπορεί να παρουσιάζουν βλάβη στην σχιζοφρένεια. Κατόπιν εξετάζεται ο τρόπος επεξεργασίας της λήψης αποφάσεων σε υγιείς και σχιζοφρενείς. Το επόμενο κεφάλαιο παρουσιάζει την βιβλιογραφία σχετικά με τις κινητικοαισθητικές ανωμαλίες που απαντώνται στην σχιζοφρένεια. Έγινε προσπάθεια να συνδεθούν οι τύποι των κινητικοαισθητικών ανωμαλιών με τις ανατομικές τους βλάβες. Επίσης ελήφθησαν υπ’ όψη τα νευροφυσιολογικά δεδομένα και οι απεικονιστικές μελέτες. Κατόπιν παρουσιάζονται οι μελέτες που έγιναν με την χρήση χειρονακτικών και σακκαδικών χρόνων αντίδρασης που και οι δύο είναι γνωστό ότι επηρεάζονται στην σχιζοφρένεια. Επίσης παρουσιάζονται μελέτες που χρησιμοποίησαν ταυτόχρονα χειρονακτικούς και σακκαδικούς χρόνους αντίδρασης. Στο τέλος της μελέτης υπάρχει μια συζήτηση που αξιολογεί περιληπτικά τα ευρήματα της τεράστιας βιβλιογραφίας εν μέσω των ετών μαζί με υποδείξεις για περαιτέρω τρόπους διερεύνησης των δυσλειτουργιών του κινητικοαισθητικού ελέγχου και της λήψης αποφάσεων στην σχιζοφρένεια.In the present study, the literature on the dysfunctions of the sensorimotor control and the processes of decision making in schizophrenia (SZ) is reviewed. At the beginning, there is an introduction with a brief description of the most characteristic symptoms of the disorder. The anatomic presentation of the brain networks that may be lesioned in SZ follows. Afterwards, the way decision making is taking place in health and in SZ is presented. The next chapter presents a literature review on the sensorimotor abnormalities which are encountered in SZ. Effort was taken to combine the types of sensorimotor abnormalities with their anatomic lesions. Neurophysiological data and imaging studies were also taken into consideration. Next, are presented the studies which have been performed using manual and saccadic reaction times, which are both known to be affected in SZ. Studies that have used manual reaction time and saccadic reaction times simultaneously are also presented. At the end of the study there is a discussion summarizing the findings of the vast literature through the years together with suggestions for further ways of exploring the dysfunctions of the sensorimotor control and the decision making in SZ

Fast convergence of learning requires plasticity between inferior olive and deep cerebellar nuclei in a manipulation task: a closed-loop robotic simulation

The cerebellum is known to play a critical role in learning relevant patterns of activity for adaptive motor control, but the underlying network mechanisms are only partly understood. The classical long-term synaptic plasticity between parallel fibers (PFs) and Purkinje cells (PCs), which is driven by the inferior olive (IO), can only account for limited aspects of learning. Recently, the role of additional forms of plasticity in the granular layer, molecular layer and deep cerebellar nuclei (DCN) has been considered. In particular, learning at DCN synapses allows for generalization, but convergence to a stable state requires hundreds of repetitions. In this paper we have explored the putative role of the IO-DCN connection by endowing it with adaptable weights and exploring its implications in a closed-loop robotic manipulation task. Our results show that IO-DCN plasticity accelerates convergence of learning by up to two orders of magnitude without conflicting with the generalization properties conferred by DCN plasticity. Thus, this model suggests that multiple distributed learning mechanisms provide a key for explaining the complex properties of procedural learning and open up new experimental questions for synaptic plasticity in the cerebellar network.This work was supported by grants from the European Union, Egidio D'Angelo and Eduardo Ros (CEREBNET FP7-ITN238686, REALNET FP7-ICT270434) and by grants from the Italian Ministry of Health to Egidio D'Angelo (RF-2009-1475845) and the Spanish Regional Government, Niceto R. Luque (PYR-2014-16). We thank G. Ferrari and M. Rossin for their technical support