Since the late nineteenth century, the cerebellum has been known to be involved in motor control, developing functions such as muscle tone control, posture and motor coordination. It is not until the end of the 1980s that it begins to relate to other cognitive functions, and is currently one of the great fields of research in neuropsychology.
The motive that begins to take into account the cerebellum with other functions, apart from the motor, is because it presents more than 50% of neurons of the whole brain and that is connected with most regions of the brain.
Currently, it is known that the cerebellum acts as a modulating system of different brain functions, not only at the motor level. It has been seen that a cerebellar lesion can cause different cognitive difficulties, such as lack of attention, executive functioning (working memory, planning, organization, among others) memory, language and visoperceptive functions.
For this reason, neuropsychological evaluation in lesions or diseases that affect the cerebellum is recommended, since sometimes these difficulties can go unnoticed because the physical ones are more visible, but they can be affecting to the autonomy and the quality of life of the patient, As well as the rehabilitation of motor functions.
Author: Neuropsicologa Gilma Acosta
