Involvement of multiple functionally distinct cerebellar regions in visual discrimination: a human functional imaging study

Neuroimage. 2003 Oct;20(2):840-54. doi: 10.1016/s1053-8119(03)00366-5.

Abstract

We investigated the contribution of the human cerebellum to cerebral function during visual discrimination using PET and fMRI. The cognitive task was a successive discrimination of shades of brown with a parametric variation of the stimulus presentation rate and a constant task difficulty. The successive color discrimination task was contrasted to a dimming detection control task, with identical retinal input but with double the number of motor responses. Three sets of activated cerebellar and cerebral regions were observed: rate-dependent and rate-independent color discrimination networks and a motor-and-detection network. The rate-dependent color discrimination network included both an anterior and a posterior activation site in lobule-VI of the two lateral cerebellar hemispheres, whereas the rate-independent network involved a bilateral activation site in lateral Crus-I. Cerebellar sites of the motor-and-detection network were located in medial lobule-V bilaterally, in the vermis, and in posterior left Crus-I and right Crus-II. An additional fMRI study was performed to control for differences in motor output and response timing between the tasks. In this control study, the cerebellar activation sites of the rate-dependent and rate-independent color discrimination networks remained unaltered. The motor-and-detection network included cerebellar activations in posterior left Crus-I and right Crus-II, but none in lobule-V or the vermis. Thus, cerebellar activation sites of the motor-and-detection network could be subdivided into those related to a motor network and those belonging to a dimming detection network. We conclude that successive color discrimination activates multiple, functionally distinct cerebellar regions.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Cerebellum / anatomy & histology
  • Cerebellum / diagnostic imaging
  • Cerebellum / physiology*
  • Color Perception / physiology
  • Contrast Sensitivity / physiology
  • Discrimination, Psychological / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Nerve Net / anatomy & histology
  • Nerve Net / physiology
  • Photic Stimulation
  • Psychomotor Performance / physiology
  • Tomography, Emission-Computed
  • Visual Perception / physiology*