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The cerebellum coordinates eye and hand tracking movements

Nature Neuroscience volume 4, pages 638–644 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

The cerebellum is thought to help coordinate movement. We tested this using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of the human brain during visually guided tracking tasks requiring varying degrees of eye–hand coordination. The cerebellum was more active during independent rather than coordinated eye and hand tracking. However, in three further tasks, we also found parametric increases in cerebellar blood oxygenation signal (BOLD) as eye–hand coordination increased. Thus, the cerebellar BOLD signal has a non-monotonic relationship to tracking performance, with high activity during both coordinated and independent conditions. These data provide the most direct evidence from functional imaging that the cerebellum supports motor coordination. Its activity is consistent with roles in coordinating and learning to coordinate eye and hand movement.

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Figure 1: Tracking task.
Figure 2: Effect of eye–hand temporal offset on manual tracking performance.
Figure 3: Parametric analysis of BOLD related to eye–hand temporal offset.
Figure 4: Combined independent and temporal offset conditions.
Figure 5: Testing for non-monotonic BOLD signal.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Wellcome Trust, JST ERATO, the Oxford FMRIB and MRC Cognitive Neuroscience Centers for help and facilities, and G. Swait and N. Jenkinson for supplementary data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Laboratory of Physiology, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PT, UK

    R. C. Miall

  2. Department of Experimental Psychology, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3UD, UK

    G. Z. Reckess

  3. Kawato Dynamic Brain Project, ERATO, JST, 2-2 Hikaridai, Seika, Soraku, 619-0288, Kyoto, Japan

    H. Imamizu

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  1. R. C. Miall
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  3. H. Imamizu
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Correspondence to R. C. Miall.

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Miall, R., Reckess, G. & Imamizu, H. The cerebellum coordinates eye and hand tracking movements. Nat Neurosci 4, 638–644 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/88465

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