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Model of the Cerebellum as an Array Of Adjustable Pattern Generators

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Cerebellum and Neuronal Plasticity

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((NSSA,volume 148))

Summary

Data are reviewed suggesting that velocity signals recorded in the magnocellular red nucleus (RNm) are produced by central motor pattern generators rather than being shaped by continuous feedback from the periphery. Other data suggest that these patterned outputs do not depend on the relatively sparse projection from the motor cortex to the RNm, but are more likely to depend on the prominent, somatotopically organized pathway from the nucleus interpositus (NI) of the cerebellum. These findings lead to a model of the cerebellum as an array of adjustable pattern generators.

The hypothesis is then advanced that recurrent pathways involving NI and RNm in combination with special membrane currents in NI neurons are responsible for the neural bursting behaviour seen in RNm, and that these bursts are adjusted to become appropriate command signals for movement by an adaptive, inhibitory input to NI from cerebellar Purkinje cells. This circuit model of an adjustable pattern generator is integrated into a schema of information flow along the olivocerebellorubrospinal pathway.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    J. C. Houk

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  1. J. C. Houk
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Neuroscience and Behaviour Group, Department of Anatomy, University College London, 3 Malet Place, London, WC1E 7JG, England, UK

    Mitchell Glickstein  & Christopher Yeo  & 

  2. Magdalen College, Oxford University, Oxford, England

    John Stein

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© 1987 Plenum Press, New York

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Houk, J.C. (1987). Model of the Cerebellum as an Array Of Adjustable Pattern Generators. In: Glickstein, M., Yeo, C., Stein, J. (eds) Cerebellum and Neuronal Plasticity. NATO ASI Series, vol 148. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0965-9_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0965-9_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-8268-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-0965-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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