The cerebellum has a well-established role in controlling motor functions, including coordination, posture, and the learning of skilled movements. The mechanisms for how it carries out motor behavior remain under intense investigation. Interestingly though, in recent years the mechanisms of cerebellar function have faced additional scrutiny since nonmotor behaviors may also be controlled by the cerebellum. With such complexity arising, there is now a pressing need to better understand how cerebellar structure, function, and behavior intersect to influence behaviors that are dynamically called upon as an animal experiences its environment. Here, we discuss recent experimental work that frames possible neural mechanisms for how the cerebellum shapes disparate behaviors and why its dysfunction is catastrophic in hereditary and acquired conditions—both motor and nonmotor. For these reasons, the cerebellum might be the ideal therapeutic target.

中文翻译：

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小脑的运动和学习之外的功能


小脑在控制运动功能方面发挥着重要作用，包括协调、姿势和熟练动作的学习。它如何进行运动行为的机制仍在深入研究中。但有趣的是，近年来，小脑功能的机制面临着更多的审查，因为非运动行为也可能由小脑控制。随着这种复杂性的出现，现在迫切需要更好地了解小脑结构、功能和行为如何交叉以影响动物在体验其环境时动态调用的行为。在这里，我们讨论了最近的实验工作，这些工作框架了小脑如何形成不同行为的可能神经机制，以及为什么它的功能障碍在遗传性和后天性条件下（运动和非运动）是灾难性的。由于这些原因，小脑可能是理想的治疗靶点。