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Processing of Multi-dimensional Sensorimotor Information in the Spinal and Cerebellar Neuronal Circuitry: A New Hypothesis.

Spanne, Anton LU and Jörntell, Henrik LU (2013) In PLoS Computational Biology 9(3).
Abstract
Why are sensory signals and motor command signals combined in the neurons of origin of the spinocerebellar pathways and why are the granule cells that receive this input thresholded with respect to their spike output? In this paper, we synthesize a number of findings into a new hypothesis for how the spinocerebellar systems and the cerebellar cortex can interact to support coordination of our multi-segmented limbs and bodies. A central idea is that recombination of the signals available to the spinocerebellar neurons can be used to approximate a wide array of functions including the spatial and temporal dependencies between limb segments, i.e. information that is necessary in order to achieve coordination. We find that random recombination... (More)
Why are sensory signals and motor command signals combined in the neurons of origin of the spinocerebellar pathways and why are the granule cells that receive this input thresholded with respect to their spike output? In this paper, we synthesize a number of findings into a new hypothesis for how the spinocerebellar systems and the cerebellar cortex can interact to support coordination of our multi-segmented limbs and bodies. A central idea is that recombination of the signals available to the spinocerebellar neurons can be used to approximate a wide array of functions including the spatial and temporal dependencies between limb segments, i.e. information that is necessary in order to achieve coordination. We find that random recombination of sensory and motor signals is not a good strategy since, surprisingly, the number of granule cells severely limits the number of recombinations that can be represented within the cerebellum. Instead, we propose that the spinal circuitry provides useful recombinations, which can be described as linear projections through aspects of the multi-dimensional sensorimotor input space. Granule cells, potentially with the aid of differentiated thresholding from Golgi cells, enhance the utility of these projections by allowing the Purkinje cell to establish piecewise-linear approximations of non-linear functions. Our hypothesis provides a novel view on the function of the spinal circuitry and cerebellar granule layer, illustrating how the coordinating functions of the cerebellum can be crucially supported by the recombinations performed by the neurons of the spinocerebellar systems. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
PLoS Computational Biology
volume
9
issue
3
article number
e1002979
publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
external identifiers
  • wos:000316864200049
  • pmid:23516353
  • scopus:84875977238
  • pmid:23516353
ISSN
1553-7358
DOI
10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002979
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ec90a002-bc73-44a8-a9ca-a3f3ec1f12d7 (old id 3627839)
alternative location
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23516353?dopt=Abstract
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:36:17
date last changed
2022-04-04 19:37:28
@article{ec90a002-bc73-44a8-a9ca-a3f3ec1f12d7,
  abstract     = {{Why are sensory signals and motor command signals combined in the neurons of origin of the spinocerebellar pathways and why are the granule cells that receive this input thresholded with respect to their spike output? In this paper, we synthesize a number of findings into a new hypothesis for how the spinocerebellar systems and the cerebellar cortex can interact to support coordination of our multi-segmented limbs and bodies. A central idea is that recombination of the signals available to the spinocerebellar neurons can be used to approximate a wide array of functions including the spatial and temporal dependencies between limb segments, i.e. information that is necessary in order to achieve coordination. We find that random recombination of sensory and motor signals is not a good strategy since, surprisingly, the number of granule cells severely limits the number of recombinations that can be represented within the cerebellum. Instead, we propose that the spinal circuitry provides useful recombinations, which can be described as linear projections through aspects of the multi-dimensional sensorimotor input space. Granule cells, potentially with the aid of differentiated thresholding from Golgi cells, enhance the utility of these projections by allowing the Purkinje cell to establish piecewise-linear approximations of non-linear functions. Our hypothesis provides a novel view on the function of the spinal circuitry and cerebellar granule layer, illustrating how the coordinating functions of the cerebellum can be crucially supported by the recombinations performed by the neurons of the spinocerebellar systems.}},
  author       = {{Spanne, Anton and Jörntell, Henrik}},
  issn         = {{1553-7358}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  publisher    = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
  series       = {{PLoS Computational Biology}},
  title        = {{Processing of Multi-dimensional Sensorimotor Information in the Spinal and Cerebellar Neuronal Circuitry: A New Hypothesis.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002979}},
  doi          = {{10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002979}},
  volume       = {{9}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}