Cutaneous afferent responses in interpositus neurones of the cat

Abstract

Motor control is a critical nervous system function, and the motor cortex and cerebellum are two regions that are essential for this function. This chapter reviews results on how movement-related information is encoded in the activity of the deep cerebellar nuclei to understand how the cerebellum might influence the motor cortex. The chapter mainly describes and contrasts the activity of the interpositus and dentate in behavioral tasks that involve voluntary forelimb movements, as the cerebellar projection to the motor cortex arises mainly from these nuclei. The results are discussed with regard to whether they support the traditional hierarchical view of motor systems and with regard to what they tell us about cerebellar input to the motor cortex. The chapter concludes by discussing findings about the physiological heterogeneity of Purkinje cells and the cerebellar nuclear cells and how this may underlie the diverse patterns of movement-related activity shown by nuclear cells.