The cerebellum and cognition: cerebellar lesions do not impair spatial working memory or visual associative learning in monkeys
The cerebellum and cognition: cerebellar lesions do not impair spatial working memory or visual associative learning in monkeys
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DOI：
10.1046/j.1460-9568.1999.00825.x
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发表时间：
1999-11-01
影响因子：
3.4
通讯作者：
Passingham, RE
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Nixon, PD;Passingham, RE
对非人类灵长类动物的解剖学研究表明，小脑与大脑皮层的背侧视觉通路有显著的联系，但与腹侧视觉通路没有联系。最近的研究表明，猴子的背外侧前额叶皮层（DPFC）和小脑是相互联系的。这被引用来支持小脑可能参与认知功能的观点，例如工作记忆。因此，六只猴子（Macaca fascicularis）的工作记忆的经典测试，空间延迟交替（SDA）的任务，也对视觉并发歧视（VCD）的任务。在3只动物的双侧小脑外侧核中进行了兴奋性毒性病变。当手术后重新测试时，损伤的动物与其余未手术的动物一样快速地重新学习这两项任务。然而，当直接比较每项任务的反应时间（RT）时，在SDA任务中，小脑损伤的猴子决定在哪里反应相对较慢。我们认为，SDA任务的动物可以准备他们的反应之间的试验，而这是不可能的VCD任务，小脑病变可能会破坏这种反应的准备。随后，我们在对照动物的DPFC中进行了双侧损伤，并在SDA任务中重新测试它们。这些猴子没能重新学习这项任务。结果表明，与背侧前额叶皮层不同，小脑对工作记忆或正确表现所必需的执行过程并不重要，尽管它可能有助于反应的准备。
Anatomical studies in non-human primates have shown that the cerebellum has prominent connections with the dorsal, but not the ventral, visual pathways of the cerebral cortex. Recently, it has been shown that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DPFC) and cerebellum are interconnected in monkeys. This has been cited in support of the view that the cerebellum may be involved in cognitive functions, e.g. working memory. Six monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) were therefore trained on a classic test of working memory, the spatial delayed alternation (SDA) task, and also on a visual concurrent discrimination (VCD) task. Excitotoxic lesions were made in the lateral cerebellar nuclei, bilaterally, in three of the animals. When retested after surgery the lesioned animals were as quick to relearn both tasks as the remaining unoperated animals. However, when the response times (RT) for each task were directly compared, on the SDA task the monkeys with cerebellar lesions were relatively slow to decide where to respond. We argue that on the SDA task animals can prepare their responses between trials whereas this is not possible on the VCD task, and that the cerebellar lesions may disrupt this response preparation. We subsequently made bilateral lesions in the DPFC of the control animals and retested them on the SDA task. These monkeys failed to relearn the task. The results show that, unlike the dorsal prefrontal cortex, the cerebellum is not essential for working memory or the executive processes that are necessary for correct performance, though it may contribute to the preparation of responses.