Timing in the cerebellum during motor learning: from neuron to athlete to patient

The cerebellum is involved in the encoding and integration of spatial and temporal information. Although these processes are crucial to our survival, the neuronal mechanisms the cerebellum utilizes to carry out this type of spatio-temporal processing, as well as the precise cerebellar contribution to temporal aspects of various behaviors, remain to be clarified. The research in this doctoral thesis describes findings from experiments done in rodents and humans, with a particular focus on cerebellar timing mechanisms. In rodents, neuronal circuit mechanisms underlying eyeblink conditioning are investigated. The contribution of pontocerebellar mossy fibers and perineuronal nets in the cerebellar nuclei to associative learning are examined. In humans, cerebellar involvement in action observation and spatio-temporal trajectory prediction are investigated in spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 (SCA6) patients, healthy controls and baseball athletes. Together, these studies demonstrate that the cerebellum is important for temporal processes during a range of behaviors, while revealing the neuronal circuit responsible.

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