Cerebellar involvement in a wide range of cognitive tasks as well as affect and behaviour has been proposed almost 20 years ago. An increasing number of human lesion and functional brain imaging studies appear to support the hypothesis that the cerebellum contributes to non-motor functions. Likewise cognitive and behavioural changes in psychiatric disorders, such as autism and schizophrenia, have been linked to structural cerebellar abnormalities.

The role of the cerebellum in cognition, however, is still a matter of ongoing controversial discussion. Frequently cited early findings, for example disability of cerebellar patients in attention and verb generation tasks, have not been replicated in later studies or have been explained by motor components of the task. Our group failed to show significant signs of aphasia or neglect in cerebellar patients.

These negative findings do not exclude a role of the cerebellum in specific aspects of non-motor functions. For example, recent studies suggest an involvement of the cerebellum in perception and discrimination of visual motion, movement and speech. Timing operations may play a role.

At least in chronic cerebellar patients cognitive disorders may be less than frequently assumed and rarely of clinical significance. The cerebellum, however, may be involved in specific operations in certain non-motor tasks. Supported by DFG Ti 239/5–2