Previous studies that have investigated the functions of the cerebellum have focused on investigating individuals who have damage to the cerebellum, as was the case with Phineas Gage's frontal lobe study which demonstrated that the frontal lobe played an important role in personality and behavior. Recent studies have had the benefit of new technologies that could significantly help identify whether or not the cerebellum plays a role in specific functions, these include functional imaging techniques such as fMRI and PET, and these recent technological advances have paved the way for new studies that focus on the activation of brain regions. This new method of research on the cerebellum has created new hypotheses for the functions of this crucial region of the brain, which include but are not limited to the cognitive and perceptual functions, as well as the motor functions already examined. These emerging hypotheses have challenged old views about the cerebellum. roles in which the cerebellum is involved. One such hypothesis includes the Gao et al. achieved in the acquisition and discrimination of sensory information using innovative techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging of the lateral cerebellar nucleus, also involving individuals in both active and passive sensory tasks (1996). These findings from Gao et al. researches are just one of many investigations that have further supported the function of the cerebellum in sensory acquisition and discrimination, as the results of this specific experiment showed activation during sensory stimulation without motor movements involved, so we can successfully apply these findings to another function of the cerebellum (1996). However, another interesting finding… at the heart of the paper… Parsons, L.M., Bower, J., Xiong J., Li J., & Fox, P. (1996). Cerebellum implicated in sensory acquisition and discrimination rather than motor control. Science, 272, 545-547.Manto, M., Bower, JM, Conforto, AB, Delgado-Garcia, JM, da Guarda, SN, Gerwig, M., Habas, C., Hagura N., Ivry, R.B., Mariën, P., Molinari, M., Nairo, E., Nowak DA, Oulad, BT, Pelisson, D, Tesche, CD, Tilikete, C., & Timman, D. (2012). Consensus document: Roles of the cerebellum in motor control – The diversity of ideas about cerebellar involvement in movement. Cerebellum, 11, 457-487. Middleton, F. A., & Strick, P. L. (1994). Anatomical evidence for the involvement of the cerebellar and basal ganglia in higher cognitive function. Science, 266, 458-461. Prevosto, V., & Sommer, M. A. (2013). Cognitive control of movement through the cerebellar receiving thalamus. Frontiers in systems neuroscience, 7, 1-8.
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