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Journal ArticleDOI

Learning of sensory sequences in cerebellar patients.

01 May 2004-Learning & Memory (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press)-Vol. 11, Iss: 3, pp 347-355
TL;DR: Whether patients with cerebellar lesions are impaired in the acquisition and discrimination of sequences of sensory stimuli of different modalities is sought and sequence learning may be impaired only in tasks with significant motor demands.
Abstract: A possible role of the cerebellum in detecting and recognizing event sequences has been proposed The present study sought to determine whether patients with cerebellar lesions are impaired in the acquisition and discrimination of sequences of sensory stimuli of different modalities A group of 26 cerebellar patients and 26 controls matched for age, sex, handedness, musicality, and level of education were tested Auditory and visual sensory sequences were presented out of different sensory pattern categories (tones with different acoustic frequencies and durations, visual stimuli with different spatial locations and colors, sequential vision of irregular shapes) and different ranges of inter-cue time intervals (fast and slow) Motor requirements were small, with vocal responses and no time restrictions Perception of visual and acoustic stimuli was generally preserved in patients and controls The number of errors was significantly higher in the faster tempo of sequence presentation in learning of sequences of tones of different frequencies and in learning of sequences of visual stimuli of different spatial locations and different colors No difference in tempo between the groups was shown The total number of errors between the two groups was identical in the sequence conditions No major disturbances in acquisition or discrimination of various sensory sequences were observed in the group of cerebellar patients Sequence learning may be impaired only in tasks with significant motor demands
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This consensus paper summarizes the impressive empirical evidence on this problem and highlights diversities as well as commonalities between existing hypotheses into the influence of the cerebellum on sensory perception.
Abstract: Various lines of evidence accumulated over the past 30 years indicate that the cerebellum, long recognized as essential for motor control, also has considerable influence on perceptual processes. In this paper, we bring together experts from psychology and neuroscience, with the aim of providing a succinct but comprehensive overview of key findings related to the involvement of the cerebellum in sensory perception. The contributions cover such topics as anatomical and functional connectivity, evolutionary and comparative perspectives, visual and auditory processing, biological motion perception, nociception, self-motion, timing, predictive processing, and perceptual sequencing. While no single explanation has yet emerged concerning the role of the cerebellum in perceptual processes, this consensus paper summarizes the impressive empirical evidence on this problem and highlights diversities as well as commonalities between existing hypotheses. In addition to work with healthy individuals and patients with cerebellar disorders, it is also apparent that several neurological conditions in which perceptual disturbances occur, including autism and schizophrenia, are associated with cerebellar pathology. A better understanding of the involvement of the cerebellum in perceptual processes will thus likely be important for identifying and treating perceptual deficits that may at present go unnoticed and untreated. This paper provides a useful framework for further debate and empirical investigations into the influence of the cerebellum on sensory perception.

335 citations


Cites background from "Learning of sensory sequences in ce..."

  • ...Another important prediction of our hypothesis is that cerebellar involvement will scale as better controlled sensory data are required [90], making it important to evaluate task difficulty when considering cerebellarrelated sensory effects [58, 229, 230]....

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Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jul 2010-Cortex
TL;DR: Human cerebellar lesion studies provide evidence that the cerebellum is involved in motor, emotional and cognitive associative learning and the posterolateral hemispheres appear to be of additional importance in fear conditioning in humans.

298 citations


Cites background or methods from "Learning of sensory sequences in ce..."

  • ...(adapted from Frings et al., 2002 with permission)....

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  • ...Effects of fear-conditioned potentiation, on the other hand, revealed an increase of rCBF in the medial cerebellum (Frings et al., 2002) (Fig....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The paper substantiates the concept of CCAS with recent evidence from different scientific angles, promotes awareness of the CCAS as a clinical entity, and examines the current insight into the therapeutic options available.
Abstract: Sporadically advocated over the last two centuries, a cerebellar role in cognition and affect has been rigorously established in the past few decades. In the clinical domain, such progress is epitomized by the “cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome” (“CCAS”) or “Schmahmann syndrome.” Introduced in the late 1990s, CCAS reflects a constellation of cerebellar-induced sequelae, comprising deficits in executive function, visuospatial cognition, emotion–affect, and language, over and above speech. The CCAS thus offers excellent grounds to investigate the functional topography of the cerebellum, and, ultimately, illustrate the precise mechanisms by which the cerebellum modulates cognition and affect. The primary objective of this task force paper is thus to stimulate further research in this area. After providing an up-to-date overview of the fundamental findings on cerebellar neurocognition, the paper substantiates the concept of CCAS with recent evidence from different scientific angles, promotes awareness of the CCAS as a clinical entity, and examines our current insight into the therapeutic options available. The paper finally identifies topics of divergence and outstanding questions for further research.

192 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 May 2008-Brain
TL;DR: The present data support the hypothesis that sequence processing is the cerebellar mode of operation also in the cognitive domain and indicate that patients with cerebro-cerebellar damage present a cognitive sequencing impairment independently of lesion type or localization.
Abstract: Although cognitive impairment after cerebellar damage has been widely reported, the mechanisms of cerebro-cerebellar interactions are still a matter of debate. The cerebellum is involved in sequence detection and production in both motor and sensory domains, and sequencing has been proposed as the basic mechanism of cerebellar functioning. Furthermore, it has been suggested that knowledge of sequencing mechanisms may help to define cerebellar predictive control processes. In spite of its recognized importance, cerebellar sequencing has seldom been investigated in cognitive domains. Cognitive sequencing functions are often analysed by means of action/script elaboration. Lesion and activation studies have localized this function in frontal cortex and basal ganglia circuits. The present study is the first to report deficits in script sequencing after cerebellar damage. We employed a card-sequencing test, developed ad hoc, to evaluate the influence of the content to be sequenced. Stimuli consisted of sets of sentences that described actions with a precise logical and temporal sequence (Verbal Factor), sets of cartoon-like drawings that reproduced behavioural sequences (Behavioural Factor) or abstract figures (Spatial Factor). The influence of the lesion characteristics was analysed by grouping patients according to lesion-type (focal or atrophic) and lesion-side (right or left). The results indicated that patients with cerebellar damage present a cognitive sequencing impairment independently of lesion type or localization. A correlation was also shown between lesion side and characteristics of the material to be sequenced. Namely, patients with left lesions perform defectively only on script sequences based on pictorial material and patients with right lesions only on script sequences requiring verbal elaboration. The present data support the hypothesis that sequence processing is the cerebellar mode of operation also in the cognitive domain. In addition, the presence of right/left and pictorial/verbal differences is in agreement with the idea that cerebro-cerebellar interactions are organized in segregated cortico-cerebellar loops in which specificity is not related to the mode of functioning, but to the characteristics of the information processed.

152 citations


Cites result from "Learning of sensory sequences in ce..."

  • ...Timmann and colleagues (Timmann et al., 2004; Frings et al., 2004, 2006) analysed the ability of patients with cerebellar dysfunction to acquire sequence information from sensory inputs of different modalities and found conflicting results....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Results clearly indicate that alpha-lipoic acid is a potent neuroprotective antioxidant and support the idea suggesting the cerebellar involvement in cognition.

109 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results suggest that the domain of the cerebellar timing process is not limited to the motor system, but is employed by other perceptual and cognitive systems when temporally predictive computations are needed.
Abstract: This study investigated the effects of different types of neurological deficits on timing functions. The performance of Parkinson, cerebellar, cortical, and peripheral neuropathy patients was compared to age-matched control subjects on two separate measures of timing functions. The first task involved the production of timed intervals in which the subjects attempted to maintain a simple rhythm. The second task measured the subjects' perceptual ability to discriminate between small differences in the duration of two intervals. The primacy of the cerebellum in timing functions was demonstrated by the finding that these were the only patients who showed a deficit in both the production and perception of timing tasks. The cerebellar group was found to have increased variability in performing rhythmic tapping and they were less accurate than the other groups in making perceptual discriminations regarding small differences in duration. Critically, this perceptual deficit appears to be specific to the perception of time since the cerebellar patients were unaffected in a control task measuring the perception of loudness. It is argued that the operation of a timing mechanism can be conceptualized as an isolable component of the motor control system. Furthermore, the results suggest that the domain of the cerebellar timing process is not limited to the motor system, but is employed by other perceptual and cognitive systems when temporally predictive computations are needed.

1,288 citations


"Learning of sensory sequences in ce..." refers background or result in this paper

  • ...Furthermore, cerebellar lesions may cause sensory timing deficits (Ivry and Keele 1989; Ivry and Diener 1991)....

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  • ...Subjects with cerebellar lesions are impaired in the discrimination of the duration of the time interval between pairs of tones (Ivry and Keele 1989) and in estimating the velocity of dots moving on a screen (Ivry and Diener 1991)....

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  • ...The finding of disordered perception of tone durations in this control condition agrees with previous studies: Ivry and Keele (1989) showed an impairment in cerebellar patients in production and discrimination of time intervals of about 400 msec....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A critical review of both earlier and more current clinical observations that raise the possibility that the cerebellum may contribute to the modulation of higher order behavior is presented, as well as a review of the salient laboratory data that appear to support this contention.
Abstract: • Recent clinical and research reports suggest that the cerebellum may contribute to the modulation of higher order behavior. This article presents a critical review of both earlier and more current clinical observations that raise this possibility, as well as a review of the salient laboratory data that appear to support this contention. It also summarizes the relevant anatomic work concerning the contributions to the cortico-pontocerebellar pathways from the higher order cerebral association areas, which have been implicated as partial anatomic substrates for this putative cerebellar role in higher function. Finally, it provides a framework for the understanding of this correlation, concludes with suggestions for future areas of investigation, and recommends that patients with cerebellar lesions be studied from a neurobehavioral point of view.

927 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Dec 1917-Brain

769 citations


"Learning of sensory sequences in ce..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Our knowledge about the clinical manifestations of cerebellar dysfunction are based mainly on the investigations by Gordon Holmes of cerebellar patients with tumors (Holmes and Stewart 1904) and with gunshot wounds from World War I (Holmes 1917)....

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Book
01 Jan 1958

759 citations


"Learning of sensory sequences in ce..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Another reason for the motor theory is that most deficits associated with cerebellar dysfunction are motor (Dow and Moruzzi 1958)....

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