Cerebellum Flashcards
What does heuristic mean?
Simpler, designed for someone to discover something
What is the basic function of the cerebellum?
It calibrates reflexes
There are two inputs for the cerebellum. What are they and what do they do?
The sensory inputs (such as vestibular, ocular, etc.), which provide the initial reflex, and the inferior olivary nuclei input, which registers unexpected results and sends modulating action potentials.
“The short loop is modulated by the long loop.”
The deep cerebellar nuclei are the __________ centers.
output (they receive the processed information from the cerebellar cortex and send axons to the brainstem and elsewhere)
The flocculonodular lobe is __________ to the anterior lobe.
caudal
Which part of the cerebellum is connected to the vestibular system?
The archicerebellum (aka the flocculonodular lobe); it is also called the vestibulocerebellum
The deep cerebellar nuclei are in the same horizontal plane as the ______________.
MCP
From outside to inside, what are the layers of the cerebellum?
Molecular layer
Purkinje layer
Granule layer (recall that the granule layer starts out external, but by the time you’re a toddler, the cells have migrated internally)
White matter
What fibers cross between the flat, nearly two-dimensional purkinje cells?
Parallel fibers
Describe the differences between climbing fibers and parallel fibers in terms of how they interact with purkinje cells.
Parallel fibers only touch a small portion of the purkinje cell –though they synapse with many different cells – whereas climbing fibers wrap around purkinje cells and make many points of contact with an individual cell. As such, climbing cells can more easily generate an action potential in purkinje fibers.
Simultaneous input from inferior olivary nucleus axons and mossy fibers leads to _____________.
long-term depression; this leads to plasticity and modulation of the relevant reflex
The ______ and ________ carry the main inputs to the cerebellum, while the ________ carries the main output.
ICP; MCP; SCP
The _________ lobe of the cerebellum is the most recent and is also called the neocerebellum.
posterior; it is also called the corticocerebellum
The paleocerebellum is also called the ____________.
anterior lobe or spinocerebellum
In cross sections, one observes that the cerebellum consists of ______________.
a three-layered cortex surrounding two deep nuclei
There are four nuclei in the cerebellum: ___________.
dentate; globose; emboliform; and fastigial
The corticocerebellum projects to the ________ nuclei.
dentate
Efferents from the vermis project to the _________ nuclei.
fastigial
The paravermis efferents project to the _________ nuclei.
globose and emboliform (together called the interpositus)
Efferents from the flocculo-nodular lobe project to the ______________.
vestibular nuclei (afferents also pass back this way)
All of the cerebellar lobes receive innervation from the _______________.
contralateral inferior olivary nucleus
The vermal zone controls ___________.
axial movements (like posture) and integration of head and eye movements
The paravermal zones control ____________.
fine-tuning of the limbs
The lateral lobes control _________________.
higher order movements of limbs such as initiation and planning
