Feindel Brain & Mind Series: Cognitive Computations in the Human Cerebellum

Cognitive Computations in the Human Cerebellum

Abstract: Your cerebellum contains more neurons and uses more energy than the rest of the brain combined. Evolutionarily, the cerebellum expanded hand-in-hand with the expansion of our species’ cerebral cortex. It may not be surprising, then, that in addition to the cerebellum’s well-known role in sensorimotor behavior, this remarkable structure is implicated in language, working memory, cognitive control, and social cognition. One enduring mystery, however, is how specifically the cerebellum supports cognition. My lab has begun to explore the idea that cerebellar contributions to nonmotor tasks may involve the same computational principles observed in cerebellar sensorimotor computations. Some of our recent neuroimaging results point to nonmotor prediction errors in ‘cognitive’ regions of the human cerebellar cortex. We observe these signals in both reinforcement learning and statistical learning contexts. Moreover, these signals appear to share constraints with cerebellar sensorimotor computations, including a preference for subsecond temporal intervals between associated events. In recent neuropsychological work on patients with cerebellar degeneration, we see evidence for cerebellar contributions to dynamic cognitive operations, like mental rotation. Our body of work suggests that the cerebellum contributes to rapid coordination of cognitive representations, directly echoing its role in motor control. These results expand our understanding of the computational functions of the human cerebellum and blur the lines between motor control and cognition.

Bio: From becoming a tennis pro to mastering a musical instrument, the human brain has given us powerful tools to support motor skill learning. Prof. McDougle's group at Yale investigates the psychological and neural principles of motor behavior using behavioral experiments, neuroimaging, and computational modeling. A primary interest is how neural systems supporting higher-level cognition intertwine with the lower-level control of movements, the so-called "cognitive-motor interface." Uncovering the fundamental neural and computational principles of interactions between thought and action will broaden our understanding of complex human mental functions, inspire new animal and machine learning computational frameworks, and inform novel clinical approaches.

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