Yang Zhi, Wu Paula, Weng Xuchu, Bandettini Peter A
Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing, 100101, P. R. China , Section on Functional Imaging Methods, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, 10 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20892-1148, USA.
J Integr Neurosci. 2014 Mar;13(1):1-17. doi: 10.1142/S0219635214500010. Epub 2014 Feb 5.
Numerous studies have shown cerebellar involvement in item-specific association, a form of explicit learning. However, very few have demonstrated cerebellar participation in automation of non-motor cognitive tasks. Applying fMRI to a repeated verb-generation task, we sought to distinguish cerebellar involvement in learning of item-specific noun-verb association and automation of verb generation skill. The same set of nouns was repeated in six verb-generation blocks so that subjects practiced generating verbs for the nouns. The practice was followed by a novel block with a different set of nouns. The cerebellar vermis (IV/V) and the right cerebellar lobule VI showed decreased activation following practice; activation in the right cerebellar Crus I was significantly lower in the novel challenge than in the initial verb-generation task. Furthermore, activation in this region during well-practiced blocks strongly correlated with improvement of behavioral performance in both the well-practiced and the novel blocks, suggesting its role in the learning of general mental skills not specific to the practiced noun-verb pairs. Therefore, the cerebellum processes both explicit verbal associative learning and automation of cognitive tasks. Different cerebellar regions predominate in this processing: lobule VI during the acquisition of item-specific association, and Crus I during automation of verb-generation skills through practice.
众多研究表明，小脑参与特定项目关联，这是一种显性学习形式。然而，很少有研究证明小脑参与非运动认知任务的自动化过程。我们运用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）技术对重复的动词生成任务进行研究，旨在区分小脑在特定项目名词 - 动词关联学习以及动词生成技能自动化过程中的参与情况。同一组名词在六个动词生成模块中重复出现，以便受试者练习为这些名词生成动词。练习之后是一个包含不同名词组的新模块。练习后，小脑蚓部（IV/V）和右侧小脑小叶VI的激活程度降低；在新的挑战任务中，右侧小脑脚I的激活程度明显低于初始动词生成任务。此外，在熟练练习模块中该区域的激活与熟练练习模块和新模块中行为表现的改善密切相关，表明其在学习并非特定于练习过的名词 - 动词对的一般心理技能中发挥作用。因此，小脑既处理显性言语联想学习，也处理认知任务的自动化过程。在这个过程中，不同的小脑区域起主要作用：在获取特定项目关联时，小叶VI起主要作用；在通过练习实现动词生成技能自动化过程中，小脑脚I起主要作用。
