The cerebellar microcircuit as an adaptive filter: experimental and computational evidence

Initial investigations of the cerebellar microcircuit inspired the Marr-Albus theoretical framework of cerebellar function. We review recent developments in the experimental understanding of cerebellar microcircuit characteristics and in the computational analysis of Marr-Albus models. We conclude that many Marr-Albus models are in effect adaptive filters, and that evidence for symmetrical long-term potentiation and long-term depression, interneuron plasticity, silent parallel fibre synapses and recurrent mossy fibre connectivity is strikingly congruent with predictions from adaptive-filter models of cerebellar function. This congruence suggests that insights from adaptive-filter theory might help to address outstanding issues of cerebellar function, including both microcircuit processing and extra-cerebellar connectivity.