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Cerebellum and Detection of Sequences, from Perception to Cognition

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Abstract

The idea that cerebellar processing is required in a variety of cognitive functions is well accepted in the neuroscience community. Nevertheless, the definition of its role in the different cognitive domains remains rather elusive. Current data on perceptual and cognitive processing are reviewed with special emphasis on cerebellar sequencing properties. Evidences, obtained by neurophysiological and neuropsychological lesion studies, converge in highlighting comparison of temporal and spatial information for sequence detection as the key stone of cerebellar functioning across modalities. The hypothesis that sequence detection might represent the main contribution of cerebellar physiology to brain functioning is presented and the possible clinical significance in cerebellar-related diseases discussed.

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Notes

  1. While the present article was in press, an article addressing the MMN in the auditory domain appeared (Detecting violations of sensory expectancies following cerebellar degeneration: A mismatch negativity study by Torgeir Moberget, Christina M. Karns, Leon Y. Deouell, Magnus Lindgren, Robert T. Knightb, Richard B. Ivry. Neuropsychologia 46(2008) 2569–2579) reporting auditory MMN impairment in patients with cerebellar atrophies, particularly evident in the time domain.

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Acknowledgements

The present work was in part supported by MURST and the Italian Ministry of Health grants to MM and MGL.

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Correspondence to Marco Molinari.

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Molinari, M., Chiricozzi, F.R., Clausi, S. et al. Cerebellum and Detection of Sequences, from Perception to Cognition. Cerebellum 7, 611–615 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12311-008-0060-x

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