ATTENTIONAL ACTIVATION OF THE CEREBELLUM INDEPENDENT OF MOTOR INVOLVEMENT

The cerebellum traditionally has been viewed as a neural device dedica ted to motor control. Although recent evidence shows that it is involv ed in nonmotor operations as well, an important question is whether th is involvement is independent of motor control and motor guidance, Fun ctional magnetic resonance imaging was used to demonstrate that attent ion and motor performance independently activate distinct cerebellar r egions. These findings support a broader concept of cerebellar functio n, in which the cerebellum is involved in diverse cognitive and noncog nitive neurobehavioral systems, including the attention and motor syst ems, in order to anticipate imminent information acquisition, analysis , or action.