Dr. David Berson

because they reach a little too far and then they over-correct and come back, things like that.

So it's very common neurological phenomenon, actually.

Cerebellar ataxia is what the neurologists call it.

And it can happen not just with cerebellar damage, but damage to the tracts that feed the information into the cerebellum.

Exactly, or output from the cerebellum.

In a very key place in the cerebellum, which is, it's really one of the oldest parts in terms of evolution.

The flocculus, right.

This is a, it's a critical place in the cerebellum where visual and vestibular information comes together for recording just the kinds of movements we were talking about.

This image stabilizing network, it's all happening there.

And there's learning happening there as well.

So that if,

Your vestibular apparatus is a little bit damaged somehow.

Your visual system is actually talking to your cerebellum saying there's a problem here, there's an error.

And your cerebellum is learning to do better by increasing the output of the vestibular system to compensate for whatever that loss was.

So it's a little error correction system that's sort of typical of cerebellar function.

And it can happen in many, many different domains.

This is just one of the domains of sensory motor integration that takes place there.

Yeah, so there's a lot of pieces there.

I think the first thing to say is if you imagine...

the nervous system in your mind's eye you see this big honking brain and then there's this little thin little uh wand that dangles down into your vertebral column the spinal cord and that's kind of your visual impression um