Contribution of cerebellar sensorimotor adaptation to hippocampal spatial memory

PLoS One. 2012;7(4):e32560. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0032560. Epub 2012 Apr 2.

Abstract

Complementing its primary role in motor control, cerebellar learning has also a bottom-up influence on cognitive functions, where high-level representations build up from elementary sensorimotor memories. In this paper we examine the cerebellar contribution to both procedural and declarative components of spatial cognition. To do so, we model a functional interplay between the cerebellum and the hippocampal formation during goal-oriented navigation. We reinterpret and complete existing genetic behavioural observations by means of quantitative accounts that cross-link synaptic plasticity mechanisms, single cell and population coding properties, and behavioural responses. In contrast to earlier hypotheses positing only a purely procedural impact of cerebellar adaptation deficits, our results suggest a cerebellar involvement in high-level aspects of behaviour. In particular, we propose that cerebellar learning mechanisms may influence hippocampal place fields, by contributing to the path integration process. Our simulations predict differences in place-cell discharge properties between normal mice and L7-PKCI mutant mice lacking long-term depression at cerebellar parallel fibre-Purkinje cell synapses. On the behavioural level, these results suggest that, by influencing the accuracy of hippocampal spatial codes, cerebellar deficits may impact the exploration-exploitation balance during spatial navigation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adaptation, Psychological
  • Analysis of Variance
  • Animals
  • Behavior, Animal
  • Cerebellum / physiology*
  • Computer Simulation*
  • Hippocampus / physiology*
  • Long-Term Synaptic Depression / genetics
  • Maze Learning
  • Memory
  • Mice
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Models, Neurological*
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins / genetics
  • Protein Kinase C / genetics

Substances

  • Nerve Tissue Proteins
  • Purkinje cell protein L7
  • Protein Kinase C