Realization of Direction Selective Motor Learning in the Artificial Cerebellum: Simulation on the Vestibuloocular Reflex Adaptation

The vestibule-ocular reflex (VOR) has been one of the most popular model systems to investigate the role of the cerebellum in adaptive motor control. VOR motor learning can be experimentally induced by continuous application of combination of head rotating stimulus and optokinetic stimulus. For instance, in phase application of those stimuli decreases VOR gain defined by eye velocity of VOR in the dark divided by head velocity, while out of phase of those increases VOR gain. It has been known that VOR gain is modifiable context-dependently. Namely, VOR gains for leftward and rightward head rotations can be respectively increased and decreased simultaneously. The cerebellar signal processing underlying the context dependent VOR motor learning, however, is not fully uncovered. In the present study, we simulated direction selective VOR motor learning, using the artificial cerebellar neuronal network model that we developed to understand the origin of the cerebellar motor learning.