ABSTRACT
The cerebellum's role in motor and cognitive functions remains highly controversial. The cerebellum is involved in motor timing, motor coordination, motor learning and sensorimotor integration. For example, cerebellar contributions have been inferred in situations as diverse as timing of the conditioned eyelid response (Perrett and Ruiz, 1993), shifting of attention (Akshoomoff and Courchesne, 1992), adaptation of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (Lisbergeret al., 1994) and coordination of eye and hand motor systems (van Donkelaar and Lee, 1994). Some of these studies also suggest that the cerebellum may be involved in some cognitive aspects of information processing. Several theories of cerebellar function have been proposed. The motor learning theories of Marr (1969), and Albus (1971) are often cited; many others have been proposed (Bloedel, 1992; Chapeau, 1991; Darlot, 1993; Fujita, 1982; Ito, 1984; Keeler, 1990; Kawato, 1992; Leiner, 1989; Llinas, 1993; Miall et al., 1993; Paulin, 1989; Thach, 1992), yet few of these theories have attempted to give a consistent view of the role of the cerebellum in the diverse tasks in which the cerebellum is involved.
