The Human Cerebellum as a Hub of the Predictive Brain

Brain Sci. 2021 Nov 12;11(11):1492. doi: 10.3390/brainsci11111492.

Abstract

Although the cerebellum has long been believed to be involved uniquely in sensorimotor processes, recent research works pointed to its participation in a wide range of cognitive predictive functions. Here, we review the available evidence supporting a generalized role of the cerebellum in predictive computation. We then discuss the anatomo-physiological properties that make the cerebellum the ideal hub of the predictive brain. We further argue that cerebellar involvement in cognition may follow a continuous gradient, with higher cerebellar activity occurring for tasks relying more on predictive processes, and outline the empirical scenarios to probe this hypothesis.

Keywords: cerebellum; cognition; language; music; prediction.