Scientists discover new function of human brain’s cerebellum

Findings may lead to better understanding of psychiatric conditions like PTSD

Scientists have found in a new study that the human brain’s cerebellum, known for mainly regulating muscle control and body movement, also helps in remembering emotional experiences.

Earlier studies have shown that a thumb-nail-sized brain structure called the amygdala is essential for the processing of emotions – a phenomenon important for our survival as we need to remember dangerous situations.

The new research, published last week in the journal PNAS, assessed the role of the brain region cerebellum, located at the back of the head, in storing emotional experiences.

Scientists have known previously that the cerebellum plays crucial roles in regulating balance for walking and standing, and other complex body movements.

In the new study, scientists looked for other functions of the brain region by showing over 1,400 participants emotional and neutral images and recording the subjects’ brain activity.

Researchers found from a memory test conducted later that the participants remembered positive and negative images much better than neutral images.

While the improved storage of emotional images was linked to increased activity of the brain region cerebrum – already known to play a part in this function – scientists also identified greater activity in the cerebellum.

The cerebellum, researchers say, also showed enhanced communication with parts of the cerebrum when emotional images were increasingly stored.

They also found that this region at the back of the brain also sent out signals to other parts of the brain, including the amygdala and hippocampus, already known to play a part in processing emotions and memory storage.

“These results indicate that the cerebellum is an integral component of a network that is responsible for the improved storage of emotional information,” study co-author Dominique de Quervain said in a statement.

While enhanced memory for emotional events can help in survival to avoid them in the future, researchers say very negative experiences can lead to recurring anxiety.

The results of the new study, scientists say, can thus help shed more light on psychiatric conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder.

“These findings expand knowledge on the role of the cerebellum in complex cognitive and emotional processes and may be relevant for the understanding of psychiatric disorders with aberrant emotional circuitry, such as posttraumatic stress disorder or autism spectrum disorder,” scientists wrote in the study.