Normal cognitive and social development require posterior cerebellar activity. Author Aleksandra Badura, Jessica Verpeut, Julia Metzger, Talmo Pereira, Thomas Pisano, Ben Deverett, Dariya Bakshinskaya, Samuel Wang Publication Year 2018 Type Journal Article Abstract Cognitive and social capacities require postnatal experience, yet the pathways by which experience guides development are unknown. Here we show that the normal development of motor and nonmotor capacities requires cerebellar activity. Using chemogenetic perturbation of molecular layer interneurons to attenuate cerebellar output in mice, we found that activity of posterior regions in juvenile life modulates adult expression of eyeblink conditioning (paravermal lobule VI, crus I), reversal learning (lobule VI), persistive behavior and novelty-seeking (lobule VII), and social preference (crus I/II). Perturbation in adult life altered only a subset of phenotypes. Both adult and juvenile disruption left gait metrics largely unaffected. Contributions to phenotypes increased with the amount of lobule inactivated. Using an anterograde transsynaptic tracer, we found that posterior cerebellum made strong connections with prelimbic, orbitofrontal, and anterior cingulate cortex. These findings provide anatomical substrates for the clinical observation that cerebellar injury increases the risk of autism. Keywords Animals, Autistic Disorder, Cerebellum, Disease Models, Animal, Mice, Humans, Neural Pathways, Behavior, Animal, Brain Mapping, Learning, Cognition, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Interneurons, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Social Change Journal Elife Volume 7 Date Published 2018 Sep 20 ISSN Number 2050-084X DOI 10.7554/eLife.36401 Alternate Journal Elife PMCID PMC6195348 PMID 30226467 PubMedPubMed CentralGoogle ScholarBibTeXEndNote X3 XML