Anatomy of the cerebellum and the role played in normal cerebellar function). From the phylogenetically oldest to the newest, the three parts are: Much of what is understood about the functions of the cerebellum stems from careful documentation of the effects of focal lesions in human patients who have suffered from injury or disease or through animal lesion research. As explained in more detail in the Function section, the cerebellum differs from most other brain areas in that the flow of neural signals through it is almost entirely unidirectional: there are virtually no backward connections between its neuronal elements. Thus the most logical way
Anatomy of the cerebellum would go to mossy fibers that synapse with granule and Golgi neurons with the granule cells then targeting Purkinje neurons via their excitatory parallel fibers. If the inferior olive it would go via excitatory climbing fiber inputs to Purkinje neurons. These return this output back to the cerebral cortex through the ventrolateral thalamus completing the loop. The corticopontocerebellar pathway is the largest pathway associated with the cerebellum. Arising in the cerebral cortex these fibers first terminate ipsilaterally in the pontine nuclei. Then the fibers decussate and form the middle cerebellar peduncle, terminating in the cerebellar cortex as mossy fibers. This