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Feedback control of learning by the cerebello-olivary pathway.

Rasmussen, Anders LU orcid and Hesslow, Germund LU (2014) In Progress in Brain Research 210. p.103-119
Abstract
The ability to anticipate future events and to modify erroneous anticipatory actions is crucial for the survival of any organism. Both theoretical and empirical lines of evidence implicate the cerebellum in this ability. It is often suggested that the cerebellum acquires "expectations" or "internal models." However, except in a metaphorical sense, the cerebellum, which consists of a set of interconnected nerve cells, cannot contain "internal models" or "have expectations." In this chapter, we try to untangle these metaphors by translating them back into neurophysiological cause and effect relationships. We approach this task from within the paradigm of classical conditioning, in which a subject, through repeated presentations of a... (More)
The ability to anticipate future events and to modify erroneous anticipatory actions is crucial for the survival of any organism. Both theoretical and empirical lines of evidence implicate the cerebellum in this ability. It is often suggested that the cerebellum acquires "expectations" or "internal models." However, except in a metaphorical sense, the cerebellum, which consists of a set of interconnected nerve cells, cannot contain "internal models" or "have expectations." In this chapter, we try to untangle these metaphors by translating them back into neurophysiological cause and effect relationships. We approach this task from within the paradigm of classical conditioning, in which a subject, through repeated presentations of a conditional stimulus, followed by an unconditional stimulus, acquires a conditioned response. Importantly, the conditioned response is timed so that it anticipates the unconditioned response. Available neurophysiological evidence suggests that Purkinje cells, in the cerebellar cortex, generate the conditioned response. In addition, Purkinje cells provide negative feedback to the inferior olive, which is a relay for the unconditional stimulus, via the nucleo-olivary pathway. Purkinje cells can therefore regulate the intensity of the signal derived from the unconditional stimulus, which, in turn, decides subsequent plasticity. Hence, as learning progresses, the olivary signal will become weaker and weaker due to increasing negative feedback from Purkinje cells. Thus, in an important sense, learning-induced changes in Purkinje cell activity constitute an "expectation" or "anticipation" of a future event (the unconditional stimulus), and, consistent with theoretical models, future learning depends on the accuracy of this expectation. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Progress in Brain Research
volume
210
pages
103 - 119
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • pmid:24916291
  • wos:000349323100006
  • scopus:84901934557
  • pmid:24916291
ISSN
1875-7855
DOI
10.1016/B978-0-444-63356-9.00005-4
project
Thinking in Time: Cognition, Communication and Learning
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6d39a6b8-2b44-4ae8-82b7-bdabe681c0ba (old id 4528922)
alternative location
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24916291?dopt=Abstract
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 09:54:14
date last changed
2022-03-04 06:03:46
@article{6d39a6b8-2b44-4ae8-82b7-bdabe681c0ba,
  abstract     = {{The ability to anticipate future events and to modify erroneous anticipatory actions is crucial for the survival of any organism. Both theoretical and empirical lines of evidence implicate the cerebellum in this ability. It is often suggested that the cerebellum acquires "expectations" or "internal models." However, except in a metaphorical sense, the cerebellum, which consists of a set of interconnected nerve cells, cannot contain "internal models" or "have expectations." In this chapter, we try to untangle these metaphors by translating them back into neurophysiological cause and effect relationships. We approach this task from within the paradigm of classical conditioning, in which a subject, through repeated presentations of a conditional stimulus, followed by an unconditional stimulus, acquires a conditioned response. Importantly, the conditioned response is timed so that it anticipates the unconditioned response. Available neurophysiological evidence suggests that Purkinje cells, in the cerebellar cortex, generate the conditioned response. In addition, Purkinje cells provide negative feedback to the inferior olive, which is a relay for the unconditional stimulus, via the nucleo-olivary pathway. Purkinje cells can therefore regulate the intensity of the signal derived from the unconditional stimulus, which, in turn, decides subsequent plasticity. Hence, as learning progresses, the olivary signal will become weaker and weaker due to increasing negative feedback from Purkinje cells. Thus, in an important sense, learning-induced changes in Purkinje cell activity constitute an "expectation" or "anticipation" of a future event (the unconditional stimulus), and, consistent with theoretical models, future learning depends on the accuracy of this expectation.}},
  author       = {{Rasmussen, Anders and Hesslow, Germund}},
  issn         = {{1875-7855}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{103--119}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Progress in Brain Research}},
  title        = {{Feedback control of learning by the cerebello-olivary pathway.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-63356-9.00005-4}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/B978-0-444-63356-9.00005-4}},
  volume       = {{210}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}