Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Cerebellar long-term depression as investigated in a cell culture preparation
- 2 Cellular mechanisms of long-term depression in the cerebellum
- 3 Long-lasting potentiation of GABAergic inhibitory synaptic transmission in cerebellar Purkinje cells: Its properties and possible mechanisms
- 4 Nitric oxide and synaptic plasticity: NO news from the cerebellum
- 5 Models of the cerebellum and motor learning
- 6 On climbing fiber signals and their consequence(s)
- 7 Does the cerebellum learn strategies for the optimal time-varying control of joint stiffness?
- 8 On the specific role of the cerebellum in motor learning and cognition: Clues from PET activation and lesion studies in man
- Open Peer Commentary and Authors' Responses
- References
- Index
7 - Does the cerebellum learn strategies for the optimal time-varying control of joint stiffness?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Cerebellar long-term depression as investigated in a cell culture preparation
- 2 Cellular mechanisms of long-term depression in the cerebellum
- 3 Long-lasting potentiation of GABAergic inhibitory synaptic transmission in cerebellar Purkinje cells: Its properties and possible mechanisms
- 4 Nitric oxide and synaptic plasticity: NO news from the cerebellum
- 5 Models of the cerebellum and motor learning
- 6 On climbing fiber signals and their consequence(s)
- 7 Does the cerebellum learn strategies for the optimal time-varying control of joint stiffness?
- 8 On the specific role of the cerebellum in motor learning and cognition: Clues from PET activation and lesion studies in man
- Open Peer Commentary and Authors' Responses
- References
- Index
Summary
Abstract: Although there is increasing agreement that the cerebellum plays an important role in motor learning, the basic substance of what constitutes motor learning has been difficult to define. Unless motor learning is somehow radically different from other forms of learning, it must involve relatively simple stimulus-stimulus and stimulus-response associations. All forms of learning, including purely sensory associations and cognitive learning as well as motor learning, effect changes in behavior. However, a singular characteristic of motor learning is that it adjusts joint and limb mechanics by altering the neural input to muscles through practice and mental rehearsal. The hypothesis proposed here is that the cerebellum plays an important role in motor learning by forming and storing associated muscle activation patterns for the time-varying control of limb mechanics. By modulating the cocontraction of agonist-antagonist muscles through adjustments in the timing and amplitude of muscle activity, the viscoelastic properties of joints can be appropriately regulated throughout movement and adapted for transitions between postures and movements. Optimal control of joint viscoelastic properties cannot be achieved by online corrections initiated by reflex feedback because of the delays and consequent instabilities incurred. Instead, strategies for optimizing muscle activation patterns or synergies must be learned from the temporal association of proprioceptive stimuli signaling muscle lengths and forces and the rates of changes in these parameters, with reinforcement occurring when the movement achieves its objective. Such strategies would involve varying degrees of cocontraction or reciprocal inhibition of agonist-antagonist muscles that ultimately contribute to joint and limb stiffness.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Motor Learning and Synaptic Plasticity in the Cerebellum , pp. 61 - 72Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1997