Specificity of inferior olive response to stimulus timing.

ABSTRACT: The inferior olive is the sole source of the climbing fiber system, one of the two major afferent systems of the cerebellum; however, its exact role remains unknown. A longstanding hypothesis is that the inferior olive with its unique intrinsic rhythmic firing properties mediates motor timing. However, direct evidence linking the inferior olive to timing behavior has been difficult to demonstrate in animal or human studies likely due to the inhibition of inferior olive responses by self-produced movement. Here we used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a perceptual task that dissociates the temporal from nontemporal attributes of sensory input. Subjects were asked to attend to rhythmically occurring identical visual stimuli and to detect a change in their timing

SUBMITTER: Liu T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2544464 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature