Krystal L. Parker, PhD, University of Iowa, Dept of Psychiatry

Although the canonical role of the cerebellum is in motor function, accumulating evidence advocates for an anatomically distinct region of the cerebellum being involved in cognitive processing. Work by our group and others indicates that cerebellar modulation of the frontal cortex may be a key component to the cerebellar role in cognition. Cerebellar-frontal connectivity is conserved from rodents to humans making this circuit ideal for translational research. Dysfunction of this circuit may underlie diseases such as schizophrenia, autism and bipolar disorder. Additionally, several independent research groups have implicated the cerebellum as a novel therapeutic target for cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia. We seek to understand how the cerebellum can be targeted therapeutically to restore cognitive function and we study this problem in detail by investigating how the cerebellum computes and communicates temporal information. Behavioral tasks requiring temporal processing are well-suited to study cognition because they require attention to elapsed time which is a component of working memory. This computation depends on the cerebellar-frontal circuit, which is known to be impaired in schizophrenia, and is also engaged by animals and humans when presented with timing tasks. We present data indicating 2Hz optogenetic stimulation of cerebellar output pathways can reinstate frontal cortical oscillations and ramping activity of single neurons following frontal dopamine blockade, rescuing timing performance. We use a combination of optogenetics, pharmacology, and multi-site neuronal recordings in rodents to determine how the cerebellum computes and communicates temporal information. Insights from these data in rodents, combined with human EEG and transcranial cerebellar stimulation, have the potential to guide future therapies and inspire novel treatments for patients suffering from neuropsychiatric disease.