The role of the human cerebellum in performance monitoring

While the cerebellum has traditionally been thought of as mainly involved in motor functions, evidence has been accumulating for cerebellar contributions also to non-motor, cognitive functions. The notion of a cerebellar internal model underlying prediction and processing of sensory events and coordination and fine-tuning of appropriate responses has put the cerebellum right at the interface of motor behavior and cognition. Along these lines, the cerebellum may critically contribute to performance monitoring, a set of cognitive and affective functions underlying adaptive behavior. This review presents and integrates evidence from recent neuroimaging and clinical studies for a cerebellar role in performance monitoring with focus on sensory prediction, error and conflict processing, response inhibition, and feedback learning. Together with evidence for involvement in articulatory monitoring during working memory, these findings suggest monitoring as the cerebellum's overarching function.