Yes, the cerebellum has connections to the neo-cortex. Specifically areas in the motor cortex, and Secondary Motor Cortex, are connected via the inferior Olive Which is thought to generate an error signal. I have suggested that this connectivity might be even more widespread, involving any location in the brain with giant pyramidal neurons in laminae IIIc.

 Essentially the size of a pyramid soma has some relationship to the distance travelled by it's axon, and giant pyramidal neurons in laminae IIIc are associated with transport to the pons/cerebellum area. By linking other areas of the brain to the cerebellum, the brain has the option of automating thought patterns as well as locomotion.

Wilfred,

As you know, my research suggests that life may be organised fractally in terms of process. This leads me to speculate that the nervous system (including the peripheral nervous system) may be organised fractally. The cerebellum may be the last and largest example of structures that occur when nerve fibres associated with the control of peripheral structures join larger bundles of nerve fibres on the route to the brain. 

I wonder if the connection between the cerebellum and the neocortex may be elucidated by examining more minor junctions in the PNS?

Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebellum

'' Functional imaging studies have shown cerebellar activation in relation to language, attention, and mental imagery; correlation studies have shown interactions between the cerebellum and non-motor areas of the cerebral cortex; .''

Exploring the connectivity between the cerebellum

and motor cortex in humans

Zafiris J. Daskalakis1, Guillermo O. Paradiso2, Bruce K. Christensen1, Paul B. Fitzgerald3, Carolyn Gunraj2

and Robert Chen2

J Physiol 557.2 (2004) pp 689–700

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/jphysiol.2003.059808/pdf

Abstract:

Animal studies have shown that cerebellar projections influence both excitatory and inhibitory neurones in the motor cortex but this connectivity has yet to be demonstrated in human subjects. In human subjects, magnetic or electrical stimulation of the cerebellum 5–7 ms before transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the motor cortex decreases the TMSinduced motor-evoked potential (MEP), indicating a cerebellar inhibition of the motor cortex (CBI). TMS also reveals inhibitory and excitatory circuits of the motor cortex, including a short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI), long-interval intracortical inhibition (LICI) and

intracortical facilitation (ICF). This study used magnetic cerebellar stimulation to investigate connections between the cerebellum and these cortical circuits. Three experiments were performed on 11 subjects. The first experiment showed that with increasing test stimulus intensities, LICI, CBI and ICF decreased, while SICI increased. The second experiment showed that the presence of CBI reduced SICI and increased ICF. The third experiment showed that the interaction between CBI and LICI reduced CBI. Collectively, these findings suggest that cerebellar stimulation results in changes to both inhibitory and excitatory neurones in the

human motor cortex.

Thank you all for your contributions. 

It was an idea that the re-afferent signals from the cerebellum may give us the information what kind of locomotion we do. This information is necessary to activate place cells and speed cells to detect the body position, direction and speed of locomotion.

One should be careful, in attributing locomotion only to the cerebellum recent work has suggested that the cerebellum deals with templates of activity and the real control comes from the basal ganglia.

In the book by Jerome A. Feldman, titled "From Molecule to Metaphor", he suggests that, as infants and young children, we learn to deal with our physical world: walking, dropping things, hardness and softness, etc. To do this involves, to a major extent, the use of our cerebellum. Later, as we grow and become more involved in abstract thoughts, the cortex translates the abstract notions to physical metaphors then invokes the cerebellum to process the notions as though they were physical entities. For example: "The stock market fell"; "Your harsh words pierced my heart." We are using physical concepts for abstractions so that the cerebellum can process them.

So, the cerebellum is not just used for balance and coordination, it is also used by the cortex to process and understand abtractions.

Dear all,

Merry Christmas to you and a happy new year.

If you're ever wondering about connectivity between any regions, you can check out the Allen Brain Atlas. It's an amazing resource -- it's in mice, but gives us some ideas of what may exist in humans. http://connectivity.brain-map.org/