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Control of mental activities by internal models in the cerebellum

Abstract

The intricate neuronal circuitry of the cerebellum is thought to encode internal models that reproduce the dynamic properties of body parts. These models are essential for controlling the movement of these body parts: they allow the brain to precisely control the movement without the need for sensory feedback. It is thought that the cerebellum might also encode internal models that reproduce the essential properties of mental representations in the cerebral cortex. This hypothesis suggests a possible mechanism by which intuition and implicit thought might function and explains some of the symptoms that are exhibited by psychiatric patients. This article examines the conceptual bases and experimental evidence for this hypothesis.

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Figure 1: Internal-model control systems for voluntary movement and mental activity.
Figure 2: Block diagrams for internal-model control.
Figure 3: The neuronal unit machine of the cerebellum.
Figure 4: Block diagram of a thought system.
Figure 5: Mental activities in the cerebellum.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the RIKEN Brain Science Institute for their continuous support of my research on the cerebellum.

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Glossary

Body-part dynamics

The dynamic properties of a body part that are determined by physical factors such as weight, length, centre of gravity and viscosity. The dynamic properties in turn determine the movement of the body part in response to command signals.

Column

A basic functional unit of the cerebral cortex. Each column is approximately 0.5 mm wide and 2 mm high and contains approximately 10,000 neurons. These units operate much like microcircuits in a computer. The human cerebral cortex is thought to have approximately a million columns.

Control system

A term that was originally used to refer to a mechanical or chemical system equipped with a mechanism for manipulating an object or regulating a process. The term now broadly applies to an informational, biological, neural, psychological or social system.

Controlled object

A key part of a control system, a controlled object converts a command into an output action. For example, a muscle converts signals in nerves into a contraction.

Controller

A key part of a control system, a controller converts a given instruction into a command. For example, the brain converts an instructed spatial position of a target into a command, which consists of signals in the nerves that innervate muscles.

Error signals

Signals representing errors in a system. The errors are discrepancies in the performance of a control system from either the instruction (consequence errors) or the prediction by an internal model (internal errors).

Instructor

The part of a control system that supplies an instruction to the controller. The instructor gives a goal towards which a control system should work.

Internal model

A functional dummy of a body part or of a mental representation in the cerebral cortex. Internal models are encoded in the neuronal circuitry of the cerebellum and mimic the essential properties of a body part or mental representation.

Paced auditory serial-addition test

(PASAT). A test that is used to impose a high cognitive load on the working memory. Subjects receive a pseudo-random auditory presentation of a number between 1 and 9 every 3 seconds and are asked to add consecutive numbers and provide the answer to each addition verbally.

Stroop Task

A task in which subjects are instructed to either read words or name the colour in which the words are written. Subjects must selectively attend to one attribute, particularly when naming the colour of a conflict stimulus (for example, the word 'green' displayed in red).

Tower of London Task

A test of planning capability. Typically, starting from an initial condition in which three differently coloured rings are distributed to three poles, the subject is asked to gather all of the rings to one particular pole by moving one at a time and not making a total of more than five moves. A modified version is used in neuroimaging to avoid contamination of the results with activity relating to movements.

Unit learning machine

The cerebellum contains numerous modular units, each of which consists of a uniform set of neuronal circuits that is capable of learning. Each unit learning machine is inserted into a neural control system and carries out the role of an internal model.

Wisconsin Card-Sorting Task

(WCST). In this task, participants are given cards that can be sorted by colour, shape or name, and must deduce the correct sorting criterion. After several consecutive correct sorts, the correct sorting criterion is changed without warning.

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Ito, M. Control of mental activities by internal models in the cerebellum. Nat Rev Neurosci 9, 304–313 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2332

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