ABSTRACT
References 698
The motor features of the cerebellar syndrome were crystallized by the great English neurologist Gordon Holmes soon after the First World War. He did not ascribe any cognitive function to the cerebellum and, until the last decade or two, this view held general sway. However, a confluence of evidence from new neuroanatomical tracing techniques, functional neuroimaging experiments and careful clinical studies now points strongly to a significant role for the cerebellum in cognition, although the exact process(es) underlying this contribution have not been fully elucidated. This chapter aims to distill some of the important studies supporting a nonmotor role for the cerebellum. The reader interested in a detailed exposition is referred to The cerebellum and cognition, edited by Jeremy Schmahmann (1997), while several shorter reviews have also been published (Fiez, 1996; Diamond, 2000; Rapoport et al., 2000; Timmann and Daum, 2007; Baillieux et al., 2008).
