Life Sciences Commons^™

Selective Recruitment Of Cerebellum In Cognition, Ladan Shahshahani

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Previous studies of cerebellar function in humans have shown that it is activated by a myriad of tasks ranging from motor learning and language to working memory and more. These studies have prompted a deviation from the traditional view of the cerebellum as a purely motor structure. However, the precise contribution of the cerebellum to these tasks remains ambiguous.

A prevalent assumption in fMRI studies is interpreting BOLD activation as evidence of the cerebellum's involvement in specific tasks. However, this interpretation is potentially misleading, especially considering that the BOLD signal predominantly represents cerebellar input, with output activity largely absent. Consequently, …

The Effects Of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation On Beat Perception And Motor Performance, Marina Emerick

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Humans have an intrinsic tendency to move to music. However, our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying the music-movement connection remains limited, and most studies have used correlational methods. Here, we used transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to causally investigate the role of four motor brain regions involved in movement timing and beat perception: the supplementary motor area (SMA), left and right premotor cortices (PMC), and cerebellum. Subjects were randomly assigned to a brain region to be stimulated and received anodal, cathodal, or sham stimulation on three different days while they reproduced rhythmic sequences. The sequences had either a strong …

Navigating The "Little Brain": Comprehensive Mapping Of Functional Organisation, Maedbh King

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Two decades of neuroimaging research suggests that the cerebellum is functionally involved in a range of cognitive and motor processes. However, missing from the literature is a comprehensive map detailing a clear functional organisation of the cerebellum. Previous studies have used a restricted task-mapping approach to localise task-specific functional activation to cerebellar lobules. However, this approach, which is often limited to one or two functional domains within individual subjects, fails to characterise the full breadth of functional specialisation within the cerebellum. To overcome this restricted task-mapping problem, we tested 17 subjects on a condition-rich task battery (61 task conditions) across …