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Peer-reviewedCC BYCerebellum (London, England)

Large-Scale Cerebellar-Cerebral Network Alterations Underlying Impaired Social Predictive Processing in Cerebellar Neurodegeneration.

  • Libera Siciliano1
  • Nicole Urbini2,3
  • Giusy Olivito2,3
  • Michelle Pisu2
  • Martina Tanieli2,3
  • Andrea Ciricugno4
  • Viola Oldrati5
  • Federico Giove6,7
  • Renato Borgatti4,8
  • Zaira Cattaneo9
  • Cosimo Urgesi5,10
  • Maria Leggio11,12
12 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Human Sciences, Link Campus University, Rome, Italy.
  2. 2Ataxia Research Laboratory, LIFE - Institute for Research and Health Care - Santa Lucia IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
  3. 3Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
  4. 4IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy.
  5. 5Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, LC, Italy.
  6. 6Neuroimaging Laboratory, LIFE - Institute for Research and Health Care - Santa Lucia IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
  7. 7Centro Ricerche Enrico Fermi, Rome, Italy.
  8. 8Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
  9. 9Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy.
  10. 10Department of Human and Social Sciences, Universitas Mercatorum, Rome, Italy.
  11. 11Ataxia Research Laboratory, LIFE - Institute for Research and Health Care - Santa Lucia IRCCS, Rome, Italy. [email protected].
  12. 12Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy. [email protected].
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Abstract

The cerebellum is a key node for detecting and adjusting social-prediction internal models. Yet social prediction has been scantly investigated in neurodegenerative cerebellar patients (CB). Thus, we examined CB social-prediction abilities and related cerebellar-cerebral networks, using tailored tasks and resting-state fMRI. Thirteen adult CB and twenty-six matched controls completed three computerized prediction tasks, where contextual priors activate specific internal models setting expectations which may influence recognition of ambiguous targets (emotion expressions, personality-traits, non-social objects). Accuracy and response times were analysed through 2 × 2 × 2 mixed-effects ANOVAs. A congruency index (CI) reflecting whether response was driven by contextual influence was derived from performance efficiency scores and analysed through a 2 × 2 mixed-effects ANOVA. Participants underwent 3T brain MRI, including T1-weighted and resting-state fMRI sequences. Posterior and vermian cerebellar lobules were chosen a-priori as regions of interest and used in a Seed-Based fMRI analysis examining cerebellar-cerebral functional connectivity (FC). FC values from patients' altered connectivity clusters were extracted and correlated with CIs. CB performed worse in the personality-traits task, showing higher reliance on contextual cues. Cerebellar-cerebral underconnectivity was found within networks involved in mentalizing and learning. In CB, higher CI in the personality-traits task, reflecting greater contextual influence and failure to revise behavioural responses, significantly correlated with right lobule VIII-right putamen underconnectivity. These findings indicate reduced flexibility in updating higher-order social predictions when contextual expectations conflict with incoming information, accompanied by altered cerebellar-cerebral FC. Exploratory findings further point to cerebellar-basal ganglia connectivity as a potentially relevant network component of predictive social cognition, warranting further investigation.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{siciliano2026largescale,
  title = {{Large-Scale Cerebellar-Cerebral Network Alterations Underlying Impaired Social Predictive Processing in Cerebellar Neurodegeneration.}},
  author = {Libera Siciliano and Nicole Urbini and Giusy Olivito and Michelle Pisu and Martina Tanieli and Andrea Ciricugno and Viola Oldrati and Federico Giove and Renato Borgatti and Zaira Cattaneo and Cosimo Urgesi and Maria Leggio},
  journal = {Cerebellum (London, England)},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1007/s12311-026-02095-y},
  url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42836925},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Large-Scale Cerebellar-Cerebral Network Alterations Underlying Impaired Social Predictive Processing in Cerebellar Neurodegeneration.
AU  - Libera Siciliano
AU  - Nicole Urbini
AU  - Giusy Olivito
AU  - Michelle Pisu
AU  - Martina Tanieli
AU  - Andrea Ciricugno
AU  - Viola Oldrati
AU  - Federico Giove
AU  - Renato Borgatti
AU  - Zaira Cattaneo
AU  - Cosimo Urgesi
AU  - Maria Leggio
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/06
JO  - Cerebellum (London, England)
DO  - 10.1007/s12311-026-02095-y
UR  - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42836925
AB  - The cerebellum is a key node for detecting and adjusting social-prediction internal models. Yet social prediction has been scantly investigated in neurodegenerative cerebellar patients (CB). Thus, we examined CB social-prediction abilities and related cerebellar-cerebral networks, using tailored tasks and resting-state fMRI. Thirteen adult CB and twenty-six matched controls completed three computerized prediction tasks, where contextual priors activate specific internal models setting expectations which may influence recognition of ambiguous targets (emotion expressions, personality-traits, non-social objects). Accuracy and response times were analysed through 2 × 2 × 2 mixed-effects ANOVAs. A congruency index (CI) reflecting whether response was driven by contextual influence was derived from performance efficiency scores and analysed through a 2 × 2 mixed-effects ANOVA. Participants underwent 3T brain MRI, including T1-weighted and resting-state fMRI sequences. Posterior and vermian cerebellar lobules were chosen a-priori as regions of interest and used in a Seed-Based fMRI analysis examining cerebellar-cerebral functional connectivity (FC). FC values from patients' altered connectivity clusters were extracted and correlated with CIs. CB performed worse in the personality-traits task, showing higher reliance on contextual cues. Cerebellar-cerebral underconnectivity was found within networks involved in mentalizing and learning. In CB, higher CI in the personality-traits task, reflecting greater contextual influence and failure to revise behavioural responses, significantly correlated with right lobule VIII-right putamen underconnectivity. These findings indicate reduced flexibility in updating higher-order social predictions when contextual expectations conflict with incoming information, accompanied by altered cerebellar-cerebral FC. Exploratory findings further point to cerebellar-basal ganglia connectivity as a potentially relevant network component of predictive social cognition, warranting further investigation.
SN  - 1473-4222
SN  - 1473-4230
ER  -