Phineas gage:
a gruesome but true story about brain science
By john fleischman
The cerebellum is a very important part of the brain. The cerebellum is located towards the back of the brain underneath the cerebral hemispheres. It is also placed next to the pons and above the brain stem. Cerebellum in Latin means "little brain". The cerebellum is involved in these functions: maintenance of balance and posture, coordination of voluntary movements, motor learning, and some cognitive functions. The little brain's affect on the maintenance of balance and posture is that it makes adjustments to our posture in order to keep balance. Another of the cerebellum's multiple jobs is coordinating the force and timing of muscle movements to make fluid body motions. The cerebellum plays a big part in fine-tuning and adapting motor programs to make precise movements through a trial-and-error process. The cerebellum is also a part of certain cognitive functions like language, attention, and learning. The little brain is made of the cerebellar nuclei and the cerebellar peduncles. The cerebellar nuclei are what create all the outputs from the cerebellum. The cerebellar peduncles carry all the inputs and output of the cerebellum and are only three fiber bundles. This part of the brain is very useful and plays a vital part in staying alive.