A century of cerebellar somatotopy: a debated representation

The existence of functional localization within the cerebellum was advanced exactly one century ago by both comparative anatomical and physiological studies. Here, we will discuss how models of cerebellar localization have evolved over the last 100 years. Like the somatotopic representation in neocortical sensorimotor areas, the representation size of different body parts in the cerebellum does not reflect their peripheral extent, but rather the different demands on the sensory inputs for different movements.