Multifunctional small brains: Cerebral cortex not the only area with perceptual abilities
(PHYSorg.com Medicine & Health)

When observing an old person picking up a box and a young person picking up a comparable box, it is easy to distinguish the difference in strength, flexibility and confidence of the two people. The brain region responsible for such higher perceptual abilities was thought to be the cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the brain. However, a study done by the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience shows the cortex gets help from another region, namely, the cerebellum, or small brain, an area involved in movement. This discovery can help understand the consequences of damage to the small brain, since it causes not only motoric impairment, but also altered social cognition. The study was published today in Brain.