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Frontal Lobe and Posterior Parietal Contributions to the Cortico-cerebellar System

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Abstract

Our growing understanding of how cerebral cortical areas communicate with the cerebellum in primates has enriched our understanding of the data that cerebellar circuits can access, and the neocortical areas that cerebellar activity can influence. The cerebellum is part of some large-scale networks involving several parts of the neocortex including association areas in the frontal lobe and the posterior parietal cortex that are known for their contributions to higher cognitive function. Understanding their connections with the cerebellum informs the debates around the role of the cerebellum in higher cognitive functions because they provide mechanisms through which association areas and the cerebellum can influence each others' operations. In recent years, evidence from connectional anatomy and human neuroimaging have comprehensively overturned the view that the cerebellum contributes only to motor control. The aim of this review is to examine our changing perspectives on the nature of cortico-cerebellar anatomy and the ways in which it continues to shape our views on its contributions to function. The review considers the anatomical connectivity of the cerebellar cortex with frontal lobe areas and the posterior parietal cortex. It will first focus on the anatomical organisation of these circuits in non-human primates before discussing new findings about this system in the human brain. It has been suggested that in non-human primates “although there is a modest input from medial prefrontal cortex, there is very little or none from the more lateral prefrontal areas” [33]. This review discusses anatomical investigations that challenge this claim. It also attempts to dispel the misconception that prefrontal projections to the cerebellum are from areas concerned only with the kinematic control of eye movements. Finally, I argue that our revised understanding of anatomy compels us to reconsider conventional views of how these systems operate in the human brain.

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Notes

  1. The tissue in and around sulcus principalis in the prefrontal cortex is important to this debate because its projections to the cerebellum have recently been studied using trans-synaptic tracers (see below). Glickstein et al. [36] do indeed report the presence of label in this area (see Fig. 2), and as mentioned above, it has an important role in the processing of abstract information. In the nomenclature of Brodmann (1905), used by Glickstein et al. [36], area 9 encompasses the sulcus principalis extending onto the medial convexity to the upper bank of the cingulate sulcus. Others have used the nomenclature of Walker [95] and make a distinction between areas 9 and 46. Area 46 includes both banks of the sulcus principalis, and area extends from the upper bank of sulcus principalis. It is important to note that when Glickstein refers to area 9, this includes the tissue in sulcus principalis that other authors have called area 46. Glickstein et al. [36] show that this area sends projections to the pontine nuclei (see Fig. 2).

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    Narender Ramnani

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Ramnani, N. Frontal Lobe and Posterior Parietal Contributions to the Cortico-cerebellar System. Cerebellum 11, 366–383 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12311-011-0272-3

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