Title

Rhythm processing in the cerebellum and basal ganglia 

Bio

Masaki Tanaka received his PhD from Hokkaido University in 1998, and then worked as a postdoc in Stephen Lisberger’s lab at UCSF. After returning to Hokkaido University, he was also appointed by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and began research on the thalamus and the cerebellum. Currently, he is a Professor of Physiology at Hokkaido University and working on the cerebellum and basal ganglia with nonhuman primates.

Abstract

Events occurring in regular cycles cause rhythm perception, often accompanied by synchronized movements such as tapping or dancing. When perceiving rhythm, we anticipate the occurrence of the next stimulus, focus our attention on that moment, and in some cases prepare for movement. Previous studies have shown that the cerebellum and basal ganglia are involved in temporal information processing, but little is known about their specific roles in rhythm perception. We examined neuronal activity in the cerebellar nuclei and the striatum in monkeys trained in behavioral tasks that require sensory prediction of regularly repeated visual stimuli, or movements in synchrony with the rhythm. Our results suggest that in addition to motor control, the cerebellum generates internal models that predict upcoming sensory events, while the striatum may represent internalized rhythms as periodic motor preparations.