1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,560 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, production of I Heart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:11,120 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, in an average week, how 3 00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: many times would you say you walk across the room, 4 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:18,360 Speaker 1: drive your car, try and potentially fail to learn dance 5 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:22,480 Speaker 1: choreography off of YouTube. Chances are you're doing at least 6 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:25,239 Speaker 1: one of those on a regular basis, and you have 7 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:28,360 Speaker 1: one small, but mighty brain structure to thank for it, 8 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:33,400 Speaker 1: the cerebellum, named for the Latin term for little brain 9 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:36,239 Speaker 1: and hanging off the back of the main brain. This 10 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:40,239 Speaker 1: adorable sounding anatomical feature packs a major punch for its 11 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:44,080 Speaker 1: diminutive size. For the article of this episode is based 12 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:46,839 Speaker 1: on has to Work. Spoke by email with Genese Wiseman, 13 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: m D, a clinical associate professor in the Department of 14 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 1: Neurology at the n y U S School of Medicine. 15 00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:55,680 Speaker 1: She said the brain weighs about three pounds one point 16 00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:59,280 Speaker 1: three kilos, and the cerebellum makes up about ten percent 17 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:02,840 Speaker 1: of that. It's made up of free lobes the vermice 18 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:06,200 Speaker 1: in the center of vermics means worms in Latin, and 19 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 1: it's a long, thin structure that looks like a worm 20 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:14,199 Speaker 1: and a cerebellar hemisphere on each side of that. Housta 21 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,080 Speaker 1: Works also spoke via email with Daniel Friedman, d O, 22 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 1: a pediatric neurophysiology fellow at Nationwide Children's Hospital. He said 23 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:26,160 Speaker 1: it weighs about five ounces a hundred forty grams. It's 24 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:29,199 Speaker 1: the coordination center of the brain and receives a large 25 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:32,119 Speaker 1: amount of sensory input from the spinal cord and brain 26 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:36,040 Speaker 1: regarding the body's movements and position. It uses this information 27 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:42,200 Speaker 1: to maintain smooth, coordinated movements a wheel. Get to how 28 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 1: the cerebellum translates all that input into action in a second, 29 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:49,480 Speaker 1: but first let's go deeper on this brain structures structure 30 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:53,400 Speaker 1: how staff Works also spoke via email with Parnete Growl, 31 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:57,520 Speaker 1: a fellow at Rush University Medical Center. She said it 32 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:01,080 Speaker 1: has a beautiful branched appearance, which is very unique. It 33 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:05,480 Speaker 1: has a complex circuitry, Friedman said. When put in half, 34 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:08,920 Speaker 1: the branching pattern of the cerebellar, white matter required to 35 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:12,200 Speaker 1: connect all the folia Latin for leaves can be seen. 36 00:02:12,919 --> 00:02:16,120 Speaker 1: This resembles a head of cauliflower or broccoli and is 37 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:20,560 Speaker 1: referred to as the arbor vitae Latin for tree of life. 38 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:25,320 Speaker 1: Appearances aside, the cerebellum plays a major role in a 39 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:29,600 Speaker 1: variety of everyday functions. A Weissman explained, the vermice is 40 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:32,800 Speaker 1: most associated with coordinating movement of the trunk and legs, 41 00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:36,280 Speaker 1: and the cerebellar hemispheres work to coordinate the movement of 42 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:41,240 Speaker 1: the arms, hands, and fingers. The cerebellum coordinates voluntary movements 43 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:46,799 Speaker 1: like posture, balance, coordination, and speech, resulting in smooth muscle movements. 44 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:50,240 Speaker 1: The cerebellum gets sensory input from the joints in the 45 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:52,840 Speaker 1: limbs in the trunk and also from the motor areas 46 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:55,560 Speaker 1: of the brain, the parts that plan and direct movement. 47 00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 1: The cerebellum matches those two inputs to make sure that 48 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:01,680 Speaker 1: the limb or unk is doing what the motor cortex 49 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:04,160 Speaker 1: in the brain wants it to. This is how you 50 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:06,480 Speaker 1: can walk a straight line, or close your eyes and 51 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:09,760 Speaker 1: touch your nose without missing. It coordinates the movement of 52 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:12,600 Speaker 1: your eyes so that you can smoothly track an object. 53 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:16,040 Speaker 1: It also coordinates the muscles of swallowing and speech so 54 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:18,679 Speaker 1: you don't choke on your food, and so you can say, 55 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:23,399 Speaker 1: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. But according 56 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:27,440 Speaker 1: to research published in October in the journal Neuron, all 57 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:31,280 Speaker 1: these important functions are just part of the picture. The 58 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:34,720 Speaker 1: cerebellum is apparently capable of a whole lot more, A 59 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:38,680 Speaker 1: Wiseman said. Recently, scientists have found that this most well 60 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:41,680 Speaker 1: known function may be only one of many functions of 61 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:46,520 Speaker 1: the cerebellum, and only involved it. Other functions include modulation 62 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:50,960 Speaker 1: of emotion, memory, language, and abstract thinking. Alike with movement, 63 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 1: the cerebellum monitors these functions to make sure that they're 64 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:56,840 Speaker 1: being done the right way. It's been referred to as 65 00:03:56,840 --> 00:04:01,960 Speaker 1: the editor of the brain. With all of this responsibility, 66 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 1: you can't help but wonder what might happen if the 67 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:08,560 Speaker 1: cerebellum were to experience any kind of damage, A Freedman said. 68 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:12,120 Speaker 1: The primary symptom of a damaged cerebellum is a taxia, 69 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:16,360 Speaker 1: or uncoordinated movement. Permanent damage to the cerebellum can come 70 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:21,159 Speaker 1: from stroke, tumors, infection, or alcohol use. A taxia can 71 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:25,040 Speaker 1: also be temporary, as seen in alcohol intoxication. Oh When 72 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:29,159 Speaker 1: police officers conduct a roadside sobriety test, they're checking cerebellar 73 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:32,039 Speaker 1: function by having you touch finger to nose or walk 74 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:36,760 Speaker 1: a straight line, a Weistman said. Symptoms and signs of 75 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:41,279 Speaker 1: cerebellar disease include difficulty coordinating movements such as walking, moving 76 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:44,280 Speaker 1: the arms, and coordinating the muscles of swallowing in speech 77 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:47,040 Speaker 1: into a smooth pattern, and people can have trouble with 78 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:49,360 Speaker 1: balance of moving the arms and hands in the way 79 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:52,719 Speaker 1: they want a swallowing and coordinating the voice when they speak, 80 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:56,960 Speaker 1: and the speech can sound slurred. Cerebellar damage can cause 81 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:01,599 Speaker 1: a tremor of the limbs, trunk, or voice. Because the 82 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:04,799 Speaker 1: cerebellum also regulates smooth movements of the eyes of people 83 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: with cerebellar damage may also experience double vision or abnormal 84 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:12,120 Speaker 1: eye movements, and because the cerebellum is apparently a player 85 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:16,479 Speaker 1: in cognitive and emotional function, researchers believed damage could contribute 86 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:21,800 Speaker 1: to mental illnesses like schizophrenia. While all of this sophisticated 87 00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:26,080 Speaker 1: circuitry certainly may seem exclusively reserved for human brains, the 88 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 1: cerebellum predates us by a long shot, and other vertebrates 89 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:33,920 Speaker 1: have cerebellums that vary in size and shape but work similarly. 90 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:38,159 Speaker 1: Elephants have the biggest that we know of. Al Weisman 91 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:42,320 Speaker 1: said The cerebellum is an evolutionarily old structure hundreds of 92 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:45,480 Speaker 1: millions of years old, found in fish and reptiles as 93 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 1: well as mammals. After all, fish have to swim straight 94 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 1: since the cerebellar, vermis and hemispheres coordinate different parts of 95 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:56,240 Speaker 1: the body. As you look up the evolutionary scale, as 96 00:05:56,279 --> 00:05:58,920 Speaker 1: animals begin to use their hands in a way different 97 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:03,280 Speaker 1: from their legs, they're cerebellar hemispheres get larger. But which 98 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:11,719 Speaker 1: came first, the structure or the action. Today's episode is 99 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:14,280 Speaker 1: based on the article The cerebellum is the Body's Little 100 00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:17,520 Speaker 1: brain on house to works dot com, written by Michelle Konstantonovsky. 101 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:20,160 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership 102 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:21,960 Speaker 1: with house to works dot com, and it's produced by 103 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:25,360 Speaker 1: Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit 104 00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:27,919 Speaker 1: the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 105 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:29,200 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.