Universität Tübingen
Adaptive control of eye movement accuracy by the cerebellum: the site of plasticity and functional mechanisms
Abstract
The seeming ease with which our central nervous system adapts to continual physiological changes or learns new motor skills is quite impressive. Due to the wealth of knowledge about its neuronal underpinnings the preferred model for investigating such adaptive processes has been the oculomotor system. Surgical lesions in animals and studies of patients with cerebellar pathologies reveal that the absence of a normal functioning cerebellum impairs the ability to adapt motor behavior to any novel changes in the physical dynamics of the muscular periphery or in the external environment. The work presented in this thesis uses the oculomotor system as a model of biological motor control to investigate important aspects of cerebellum-dependent motor adaptation. It provides novel evidence that the cerebellum does not only act to compensate for external or physical changes but also for central disturbances within the brain itself that compromise accurate motor performance. It identifies at which stage of neural processing within the microcircuitry of the cerebellum the behaviorally relevant plasticity first occurs and what extra-cerebellar structures it influences to induce the learned motor response.
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author
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- Prsa, Mario
Identifiers
dc:identifier.*- Identifier
- hdl:10900/45751