Laboratoire de Neurobiologie (CNRS UMR 8544), Ecole Normale Supérieure, 75230 Paris Cedex 05, France
Address for correspondence: Boris Barbour, Laboratoire de Neurobiologie (CNRS UMR 8544), Ecole Normale Supérieure, 46 rue d'Ulm, 75230 Paris Cedex 05, France. Voice: +33 1 44 32 37 36; fax: +33 1 44 32 38 87.
barbour{at}ens.fr
Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 978: 164-174 (2002).
The issues of temporal coding and the temporal organization
of activity have aroused a great deal of interest in sensory
systems, cortex, thalamus, and hippocampus. Strangely, despite
the important timing roles attributed to the cerebellum, little
consideration has been given to the organization of activity
within the cerebellar circuitry. In fact, there is evidence
of a remarkable temporal patterning of activity in even the
earliest cerebellar recordings. The evidence for the existence
of high-frequency oscillations in the cerebellar cortex is reviewed
and possible mechanisms are discussed; one involves the synchrony
of parallel fiber inputs to Purkinje cells. It is shown how
synchronous and oscillatory activity can enable extremely precise
timing and also how they can maximize the information storage
capacity of the cerebellar cortex.
