Noam Sadon-Grosman

ELSC, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem​

December 11, 2024

Somatomotor to Higher Order Cognition -

 The Detailed Organization of the Human Cerebellum

The cerebellum is long known for its somatomotor functions. Recent evidence has converged to suggest that major portions of the human cerebellum are linked to cognitive and affective functions. In this talk, I will present new insights into the functional organization of the human cerebellum. Our findings reveal three distinct somatomotor representations, including a newly identified third map that is spatially dissociated from the two well-established body representations. Between these body representations, a large megacluster extending across Crus I/II was consistently found with subregions linked to higher-order cerebral association networks. Within this megacluster, specific regions responded to domain-flexible cognitive control, while juxtaposed regions differentially responded to language, social, and spatial/episodic task demands. Similarly organized clusters also exist in the caudate consistent with the presence of multiple basal ganglia–cerebellar–cerebral cortical circuits that maintain functional specialization across their entire distributed extents.