Greg Allen, Richard B. Buxton, Eric C. Wong, Eric Courchesne ^*

The cerebellum traditionally has been viewed as a neural device dedicated to motor control. Although recent evidence shows that it is involved in nonmotor operations as well, an important question is whether this involvement is independent of motor control and motor guidance. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to demonstrate that attention and motor performance independently activate distinct cerebellar regions. These findings support a broader concept of cerebellar function, in which the cerebellum is involved in diverse cognitive and noncognitive neurobehavioral systems, including the attention and motor systems, in order to anticipate imminent information acquisition, analysis, or action.

G. Allen, San Diego State University-University of California, San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, San Diego, CA 92120, USA, and Autism and Brain Development Research Laboratory, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
R. B. Buxton and E. C. Wong, Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, CA 92103, USA.
E. Courchesne, Department of Neurosciences, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA, and Autism and Brain Development Research Laboratory, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
^*   To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Volume 275, Number 5308, Issue of 28 March 1997, pp. 1940-1943
©1997 by The American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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Copyright © 1997 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.