SENSORY PREDICTION AS A ROLE FOR THE CEREBELLUM

We suggest that the cerebellum generates sensory or ''state'' estimate s based on outgoing motor commands and sensory feedback. Thus, it is n ot a motor pattern generator (HOUK et al.) but a predictive system whi ch is intimately involved in motor behavior. This theory may explain t he sensitivity of the climbing fibers to both unexpected external even ts and motor errors (SIMPSON et al.), and we speculate that unusual bi ophysical properties of the inferior olive might allow the cerebellum to develop multiple asynchronous sensory estimates.