Cerebellar networks have traditionally been linked to sensorimotor control. However, a large body of evidence suggests that cerebellar functions extend to non-motor realms, such as fear-based emotional processing and that these functions are supported by interactions with a wide range of brain structures. Research related to the cerebellar contributions to emotional processing has focussed primarily on the use of well-constrained conditioning paradigms in both human and non-human subjects. From these studies, cerebellar circuits appear to be critically involved in both conditioned and unconditioned responses to threatening stimuli in addition to encoding and storage of fear memory. It has been hypothesised that the computational mechanism underlying this contribution may involve internal models, where errors between actual and expected outcomes are computed within the circuitry of the cerebellum. From a clinical perspective, cerebellar abnormalities have been consistently linked to neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism. Importantly, atypical adaptive behaviour and heightened anxiety are also common amongst autistic individuals. In this review, we provide an overview of the current anatomical, physiological and theoretical understanding of cerebellar contributions to fear-based emotional processing to foster further insights into the neural circuitry underlying emotional dysregulation observed in people with autism.

中文翻译：

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小脑对基于恐惧的情绪处理的贡献：与理解自闭症神经回路的相关性

小脑网络传统上与感觉运动控制有关。然而，大量证据表明，小脑功能延伸到非运动领域，例如基于恐惧的情绪处理，并且这些功能是通过与各种大脑结构的相互作用来支持的。与小脑对情绪处理的贡献相关的研究主要集中在人类和非人类受试者中使用良好约束的条件范式。从这些研究来看，除了恐惧记忆的编码和存储之外，小脑回路似乎还关键参与对威胁刺激的条件和非条件反应。据推测，这种贡献背后的计算机制可能涉及内部模型，其中实际结果和预期结果之间的误差是在小脑电路内计算的。从临床角度来看，小脑异常一直与神经发育障碍（包括自闭症）有关。重要的是，非典型的适应性行为和高度焦虑在自闭症患者中也很常见。在这篇综述中，我们概述了当前对小脑对基于恐惧的情绪处理的贡献的解剖学、生理学和理论理解，以进一步了解在自闭症患者中观察到的情绪失调背后的神经回路。