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Krasnow Institute > Monday Seminars > Abstracts THE ROLE OF THE CEREBELLUM IN COGNITION: Brown Bag Discussion led by Jerry Nelson, NIMH, NIH We can use multiple electrodes to listen in on cells in multiple areas as information is exchanged in cortex. We might assume that cell "A" sends a spike to "B" and then "B" fires, but in fact we see functionally coupled cells interacting with synchrony and temporal dispersion. These data can be produced if two cells communicate as members of a larger assembly and if that assembly is built with a circuit which operates in part with extreme temporal regularity. The cortex does in fact have these tightly-timed spike transmission circuits. Their activity makes a previously unnoticed signal which clarifies the evolution, design and function of the cerebellum, the "little brain" at the back of the head. This cortical signal is what the cerebellum is built to detect. By detecting the signature of assembly-based spike transmission in cortex, the cerebellum is always up to date on the latest steps in cortical processing. We would expect the spread of activity across the cortical surface to depend on the distance to be travelled. However, the cerebellum knows where the cortex has been, and guides the spread of activity across the cortical mantle during the ensuing steps in cellular transmission. With the cerebellum, WHAT processing we do next can be chosen and timed independently of WHERE the next needed cortical processing center lies. Cerebellum and cortex are tightly coupled. The result is fluidity in thought, language and motion. Assembly-based spike transmission in cortex and tightly coupled cortical-cerebellar interaction provide a general account of information exchange in cortex at the cellular level. This account is a fitting basis for the stunning advances now being made in cognitive neuroscience.
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