Cerebellum

The cerebellum (Latin for "little brain") is a region of the brain that plays an important role in motor control. It may also be involved in some cognitive functions such as attention and language, and in regulating fear and pleasure responses, but its movement-related functions are the most solidly established. The cerebellum does not initiate movement, but it contributes to coordination, precision, and accurate timing. It receives input from sensory systems of the spinal cord and from other parts of the brain, and integrates these inputs to fine-tune motor activity. Cerebellar damage produces disorders in fine movement, equilibrium, posture, and motor learning.

Anatomically, the cerebellum has the appearance of a separate structure attached to the bottom of the brain, tucked underneath the cerebral hemispheres. Its cortical surface is covered with finely spaced parallel grooves, in striking contrast to the broad irregular convolutions of the cerebral cortex. These parallel grooves conceal the fact that the cerebellar cortex is actually a continuous thin layer of tissue tightly folded in the style of an accordion. Within this thin layer are several types of neurons with a highly regular arrangement, the most important being Purkinje cells and granule cells. This complex neural organization gives rise to a massive signal-processing capability, but almost all of its output passes through a set of small deep cerebellar nuclei lying in the interior of the cerebellum.

The Cerebellum

The Cerebellum is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal founded in 2002. It is published by Springer Science+Business Media on behalf of the Society for the Research on the Cerebellum. It is devoted to research about the cerebellum and its roles in ataxia and other disorders.

Abstracting and indexing

The journal is abstracted and indexed in Academic Search, Chemical Abstracts Service EBSCO databases, BIOBASE, EMBASE, Neuroscience Citation Index, PsycINFO, PubMed/MEDLINE, Science Citation Index Expanded, Scopus, Summon by Serial Solutions, and VINITI. According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal's 2009 impact factor is 3.280.

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