Study links associative learning in the cerebellum to movement control in mice

A new study published in Nature Neuroscience suggests that associative learning in the cerebellum may underlie the learning and coordination of some body movements, particularly reaching behavior.

Image of the cerebellar cortex, stained for Nissl and calbindin, showing the folds of cerebellar Purkinje cells which learn associations. Credit: Jackson Stocking.

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, found that mice could learn to adapt their reaching behavior when the activity of their cerebellum was modified. This suggests that the cerebellum may be involved in using associative learning to improve motor control.

"Our study linked basic associative learning like delay eyelid conditioning with principles of skilled motor control and learning," said Abigail Person, one of the researchers who conducted the study. "In our next works, we plan to investigate the mystery related to the teaching signal—how it detects what is wrong and how its signaling leads to rapid changes."

The cerebellum is a small but important part of the brain that is involved in a variety of functions, including motor control, learning, and memory. It is thought to play a role in using feedback from the environment to improve motor performance.

The study's findings suggest that the cerebellum may be able to learn to associate changes in the environment with changes in motor output. This could allow the cerebellum to adapt motor behavior to new situations or to improve motor performance over time.

The findings of this study have implications for our understanding of how the brain learns and controls movement. They also suggest that the cerebellum may be a target for therapeutic interventions aimed at improving motor function in people with neurological disorders.

Journal Information: Dylan J. Calame et al, Cerebellar associative learning underlies skilled reach adaptation, Nature Neuroscience (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-023-01347-y