Crossword clues for cerebellum
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Cerebellum \Cer`e*bel"lum\, n.; pl. E. Cerebellums, L. Cerebella. [L., dim. of cerebrum brain.] (Anat.) The large lobe of the hind brain in front of and above the medulla; the little brain. It controls combined muscular action. See Brain.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1560s, from Latin cerebellum "a small brain," diminutive of cerebrum "brain" (see cerebral).
Wiktionary
n. (context neuroanatomy English) Part of the hindbrain in vertebrates. In humans it lies between the brainstem and the cerebrum. It plays an important role in sensory perception, motor output, balance and posture.
WordNet
n. a major division of the vertebrate brain; situated above the medulla oblongata and beneath the cerebrum in humans
[also: cerebella (pl)]
Wikipedia
The cerebellum (Latin for "little brain") is a region of the brain that plays an important role in motor control. It may also be involved in some cognitive functions such as attention and language, and in regulating fear and pleasure responses, but its movement-related functions are the most solidly established. The cerebellum does not initiate movement, but contributes to coordination, precision, and accurate timing. It receives input from sensory systems of the spinal cord and from other parts of the brain, and integrates these inputs to fine-tune motor activity. Cerebellar damage produces disorders in fine movement, equilibrium, posture, and motor learning.
Anatomically, the cerebellum has the appearance of a separate structure attached to the bottom of the brain, tucked underneath the cerebral hemispheres. Its cortical surface is covered with finely spaced parallel grooves, in striking contrast to the broad irregular convolutions of the cerebral cortex. These parallel grooves conceal the fact that the cerebellar cortex is actually a continuous thin layer of tissue tightly folded in the style of an accordion. Within this thin layer are several types of neurons with a highly regular arrangement, the most important being Purkinje cells and granule cells. This complex neural organization gives rise to a massive signal-processing capability, but almost all of the output from the cerebellar cortex passes through a set of small deep nuclei lying in the white matter interior of the cerebellum.
In addition to its direct role in motor control, the cerebellum is necessary for several types of motor learning, most notably learning to adjust to changes in sensorimotor relationships. Several theoretical models have been developed to explain sensorimotor calibration in terms of synaptic plasticity within the cerebellum. These models derive from those formulated by David Marr and James Albus, based on the observation that each cerebellar Purkinje cell receives two dramatically different types of input: one comprises thousands of weak inputs from the parallel fibers of the granule cells; the other is an extremely strong input from a single climbing fiber. The basic concept of the Marr–Albus theory is that the climbing fiber serves as a "teaching signal", which induces a long-lasting change in the strength of parallel fiber inputs. Observations of long-term depression in parallel fiber inputs have provided support for theories of this type, but their validity remains controversial.
Usage examples of "cerebellum".
Pressure on the cerebellum is supposed to account for cases of priapism observed in executions and suicides by hanging.
Would she like to know about the thalamic radiations of the ventral nuclei of the cerebellum?
Some physiologists suppose that the cerebellum is the source of that harmony or associative power which co-ordinates all voluntary movements, and effects that delicate adjustment of cause to effect, displayed in muscular action.
In the posterior chamber of the skull is the cerebellum, anterior to, and below which, is the medulla oblongata, connecting with the spinal cord and sympathetic system.
Its cerebral area includes the posterior and inferior portions of the cerebrum, the entire cerebellum, and that part of the medulla which connects with the spinal cord, all of which sustain intimate relations to vital conditions.
This condition extended through both the larger and the smaller brain, cerebrum, and cerebellum, but was not so marked in the medulla, or commencing portion of the spinal cord, as in the other portions.
The anterior gives form to the forehead, the middle rests in the cavity at the base of the skull, and the posterior lobe is supported by the tentorium, by which it is separated from the cerebellum beneath.
From the standpoint of thermoregulation, the division of the brain into a cerebellum and a cerebrum with temporal, parietal, and frontal lobes is meaningless.
As an injury to the cerebellum causes purpose tremor, so Lethean dust causes PK tremor.
An autopsy turned up encephalitis and myelitis of the brain, including Negri bodies in the pyramidal cells of the hippocampus, and Purkinje cells of the cerebellum.
A human brain with a volume of about 1,375 cubic centimeters contains, as we have said, apart from the cerebellum about ten billion neurons and some ten trillion bits.
Now, I consider that the phrenologists have omitted an important thing in not pushing their investigations from the cerebellum through the spinal canal.
Furthermore, although the frontal cortex was quite dense, its apparent normality was hardly in keeping with the contrasting readouts for other portions of the cerebellum.
But no tortoise had ever been a god, and knew the unwritten motto of the Quisition: Cuius testiculos habes, habeas cardia et cerebellum.
Some bastard had cauterized all the synapses and electronically traumatised those two lumps of cerebellum.