Cerebellar output shapes cortical preparatory activity during motor adaptation

Sharon Israely, Hugo Ninou, Ori Rajchert, Lee Elmaleh, Ran Harel, Firas Mawase, Jonathan Kadmon () and Yifat Prut ()
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Sharon Israely: The Hebrew University
Hugo Ninou: The Hebrew University
Ori Rajchert: Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
Lee Elmaleh: The Hebrew University
Ran Harel: Sheba Medical Center
Firas Mawase: Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
Jonathan Kadmon: The Hebrew University
Yifat Prut: The Hebrew University

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: Abstract The cerebellum plays a key role in motor adaptation by driving trial-to-trial recalibration of movements based on previous errors. In primates, cortical correlates of adaptation are encoded already in the pre-movement motor plan, but these early cortical signals could be driven by a cerebellar-to-cortical information flow or evolve independently through intracortical mechanisms. To address this question, we trained female macaque monkeys to reach against a viscous force field (FF) while blocking cerebellar outflow. The cerebellar block led to impaired FF adaptation and a compensatory, re-aiming-like shift in motor cortical preparatory activity. In the null-field conditions, the cerebellar block altered neural preparatory activity by increasing task-representation dimensionality and impeding generalization. A computational model indicated that low-dimensional (cerebellar-like) feedback is sufficient to replicate these findings. We conclude that cerebellar signals carry task structure information that constrains the dimensionality of the cortical preparatory manifold and promotes generalization. In the absence of these signals, cortical mechanisms are harnessed to partially restore adaptation.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57832-4

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