Cerebellum and Attention

Classically, attention has been associated with a network of cortical sites that often include areas like the right parietal lobe, the frontal eye fields, and the superior temporal gyrus. Subcortical sites mentioned include the pulvinar - the thalmus's big mystery - and the superior colliculi. And up to a few decades, the cerebellum was dismissively relegated to motor function. However, the cerebellum has been making a come back for a while now with an ever enlarging recognition of its role in cognitive functions, perhaps most successfully in learning. Under the leadership of Chris Striemer of MacEwan University and the able support of his student Brandon Craig, we at Waterloo have had the chance to participate in a study examining the effect of cerebellar lesions on attentional functioning. This work is still on going, but preliminary findings were presented by Chris at the annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society in San Francisco this month (March 2017). The principal result so far has been an association of lateral cerebellar damage with changes in inhibition of return. Look for more findings in this space next year. For more details, feel free to contact Chris. A link to the poster is here.