Cerebellum

The cerebellum is a region at the back of the brain that is located under the occipital and temporal lobes of the cerebral cortex. The cerebellum houses more than half of the brain’s neurons despite taking up only 10% of the brain’s volume. The cerebellum has long been characterised as a motor structure because cerebellar damage produces issues with motor control and posture, and because the majority of the cerebellum’s outputs go to motor system components. Motor commands do not begin in the cerebellum. The cerebellum modifies the motor commands of the descending pathways to make motions more flexible and accurate.

The cerebellum is responsible for the functions mentioned below:

Maintaining balance and posture is essential. The cerebellum is in charge of keeping you balanced by adjusting your posture. It adapts to changes in body position or muscle stress by modifying impulses to motor neurons based on input from vestibular receptors and proprioceptors. Patients with cerebellar damage frequently experience balance issues, and they develop habitual postural ways to compensate.

Non-profit organisation coordination. The majority of actions are made up of multiple muscle groups operating in unison at the same time. One of the cerebellum’s key responsibilities is to coordinate the time and force of these various muscle groups so that fluid limb or body motions can be produced.

Motor learning is the process of learning how to move. The cerebellum is extensively involved in motor learning. The cerebellum plays a critical role in adjusting and fine-tuning motor programming to make precise motions through a trial-and-error process (e.g., learning to hit a ball with a bat).

The ability to think. The cerebellum is well known for its contributions to motor control, but it also plays a role in cognitive abilities such as language. The cerebellum, like the basal ganglia, has long been assumed to be a part of the motor system, but its functions extend beyond motor control in unknown ways.