Although many functions have been ascribed to the cerebellum, the uniformity
of its synaptic organization suggests that a single, characteristic computation
may be common to all. Computer simulations are useful in examining this cerebellar
computation, as they inherently address function at the level of information
processing. Progress is facilitated by factors that make the cerebellum particularly
amenable to such analysis. We review progress from two contrasting approaches.
Top-down simulations begin with hypotheses about computational mechanisms
and then ask how such mechanisms might operate within the cerebellum. Bottom-up
simulations attempt to build a representation of the cerebellum that reflects
known cellular and synaptic components as accurately as possible. We describe
recent advances from these two approaches that are leading to an understanding
of what information the cerebellum processes and how its neurons and synapses
accomplish this task.
