Little brain, little minds: The big role of the cerebellum in social development

Olson, Ingrid R.; Hoffman, Linda J.; Jobson, Katie R.; Popal, Haroon; Wang, Yin

doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101238

Cited by 15 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 138 publications

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“…Specifically, the volume of posterior cerebellar regions, such as lobules X, IX, and VIII, exhibited a significant negative correlation with social problems. These findings are consistent with previous studies, reinforcing the idea that the posterior cerebellar lobes contribute to social functions (61).…”

Section: Correlation Between Individual Cerebellar Deviation and Beha...supporting

confidence: 93%

Uncovering Individualized Cerebellar Atrophy Pattern and Behavioral Links in Children with Brainstem Tumor

Jia,

Wang,

Zhang

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Background: Brainstem tumors are rare and result in enduring behavioral issues, posing challenges for patients and surgeons. Despite similarities in symptoms to those resulting from cerebellar injuries, limited research has investigated cerebellar changes in patients with brainstem tumors. Methods: Here, we employed U-Net-based segmentation to analyze the cerebellum in 26 regions, assessing individual volume deviations. Additionally, we developed a behavior prediction model using the total outlier count (tOC) index and brain volume as features. Findings: Our normative model results revealed that most patients exhibited negative deviation in most cerebellar regions, particularly in lobule Right V, Left I-III, Right X, and Left X. The results found a significant association between a higher tOC and severe social problems (r = 0.31, p = 0.001) and withdrawal behavior (r = 0.28, p = 0.001). Further analysis showed that smaller cerebellar regions correlated strongly with more pronounced social problems (r = 0.27, p = 0.007) and withdrawal behavior (r = 0.25, p = 0.015). Notably, lobules such as Right X, V, IV, and VIIB, along with Left IX, VIII, and X exerted the greatest influence on social problems, whereas regions including Left V, Right IV, and Vermis VI and VIII were most impactful on withdrawal behavior. Interpretation: In summary, our study revealed cerebellar atrophy patterns in patients with brainstem tumors, emphasizing the role of both anterior and posterior cerebellar lobes in social problems and withdrawal behavior. This research sheds light on the brain mechanisms underlying complex behavioral disorders in brainstem tumor patients. Funding: This study was supported by the STI2030-Major Projects 2021ZD0200201 and Beijing Municipal Public Welfare Development and Reform Pilot Project for Medical Research Institutes (grant ID: JYY202X-X).

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Section: Correlation Between Individual Cerebellar Deviation and Beha...supporting

confidence: 93%

Uncovering Individualized Cerebellar Atrophy Pattern and Behavioral Links in Children with Brainstem Tumor

Jia,

Wang,

Zhang

et al. 2024

Preprint

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“…The social role of the cerebellum in healthy human adults has been previously described [see Hoche et al (2016) , Sokolov (2018) , Van Overwalle et al (2019) , Van Overwalle et al (2020 , 2021) , Olson et al (2023) ]. One meta-analysis has reported consistent engagement of the posterior areas of the cerebellum (e.g., VIIB, VI, Crus I, IV, VI, and IX) in social tasks ( Van Overwalle et al, 2014 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another consideration is that the neurobehavioral role of the maturing cerebellum may differ from that of the matured cerebellum. In line with this perspective, a recent study proposed a hypothesis suggesting that the human brain constructs a social-mental model in the cerebellum during early life as a “forward model,” which is subsequently utilized in later stages as an “inverse model” ( Olson et al, 2023 ). Although this hypothesis requires further investigation, it offers a potential explanation for the observed differences.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cerebellar volume and functional connectivity in neonates predicts social and emotional development in toddlers

Kim,

Kapse,

Limperopoulos

et al. 2024

Front. Neurosci.

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Over the past decade, a growing body of research in adults has emphasized the role of the cerebellum in social and emotional cognition. This has been further supported by findings of delayed social and emotional development in toddlers with cerebellar injury during the fetal and newborn periods. However, the contributions of the cerebellum to social–emotional development in typically developing newborns are unclear. To bridge this gap in knowledge, we used multimodal MRI to investigate associations between cerebellar structure and function in 88 healthy neonates (mean ± sd of postmenstrual age, = 42.00 ± 1.91 weeks) and social–emotional development at 18-months assessed using the Infant-Toddler Social–Emotional Assessment (ITSEA) (mean age on ITSEA: 18.32 ± 1.19 months old). We found that cerebellar volume was not associated with ITSEA domain scores at 18 months. We further demonstrated cerebellar functional gradient (FGR) defined using principal component analysis (PCA) was associated with Externalizing domain (linear regression model, false-discovery-rate-adjusted p = 0.013). This cluster (FGR7) included the left dentate, right VI, left Vermis VIIIb, and right V lobules. Finally, we demonstrated that either structural or functional features of the cerebellum reliably predicted scores on the Externalizing and Internalizing domains (correlation between actual and predicted scores: for structural, Fisher’s z = 0.48 ± 0.01 for Internalizing, p = 0.01; for functional, Fisher’s z = 0.45 ± 0.01 for Externalizing, p = 0.02; with permutation test). Collectively, our findings suggest that the cerebellum plays an important role in social–emotional development during the critical early stages of life.

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“…A significant role for the cerebellum in ASD is a relatively recent suggestion, even if the "little brain" has gained a more important place in the cognitive neuroscience field in the last four decades [73]. Historically, the neocortex has been considered the principal brain region correlated with the origin of ASD, even though cerebellar perinatal injuries represent the single largest non-heritable risk for ASD [74].…”

Section: Autism Spectrum Disordermentioning

confidence: 99%

Cerebellar phenotypes in germline PTEN mutation carriers

Gambini,

Ferrero,

Bulfamante

et al. 2024

Neuropathology Appl Neurobio

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PTEN hamartoma tumour syndrome (PHTS) comprises different hereditary conditions caused by germline PTEN mutations, predisposing to the development of multiple hamartomas in many body tissues and also increasing the risk of some types of cancer.Cerebellar involvement in PHTS patients has been long known due to the development of a pathognomonic cerebellar hamartoma (known as dysplastic gangliocytoma of the cerebellum or Lhermitte‐Duclos disease). Recently, a crucial role of the cerebellum has been highlighted in the pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorders, now recognised as a phenotype expressed in a variable percentage of PHTS children. In addition, rare PTEN variants are indeed identified in medulloblastoma as well, even if they are less frequent than other germline gene mutations.The importance of PTEN and its downstream signalling enzymatic pathways, PI3K/AKT/mTOR, has been studied at different levels in both human clinical settings and animal models, not only leading to a better understanding of the pathogenesis of different disorders but, most importantly, to identify potential targets for specific therapies. In particular, PTEN integrity makes an important contribution to the normal development of tissue architecture in the nervous system, including the cerebellum. Thus, in patients with PTEN germline mutations, the cerebellum is an affected organ that is increasingly recognised in different disorders, whereas, in animal models, cerebellar Pten loss causes a variety of functional and histological alterations.In this review, we summarise the range of cerebellar involvement observed in PHTS and its relationships with germline PTEN mutations, along with the phenotypes expressed by murine models with PTEN deficiency in cerebellar tissue.

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Little brain, little minds: The big role of the cerebellum in social development

Cited by 15 publications

References 138 publications

Uncovering Individualized Cerebellar Atrophy Pattern and Behavioral Links in Children with Brainstem Tumor

Uncovering Individualized Cerebellar Atrophy Pattern and Behavioral Links in Children with Brainstem Tumor

Cerebellar volume and functional connectivity in neonates predicts social and emotional development in toddlers

Cerebellar phenotypes in germline PTEN mutation carriers

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