Executive Functions and Cerebellar Development in Children

This article examines the role of the cerebellum in processing executive functions in developmental age. The areas implicated in its elaboration are interconnected in a network that includes the prefrontal cortex, the basal ganglia, and the cerebellum. Implementation of the capacities to plan and to control corresponds to the development of the network and its structures. The development, from an evolutionary point of view, of the most recent parts of the cerebellum and of its connections with the prefrontal cortex is tied to the crucial role that it plays in an inexorable way in action execution with implicit mechanisms of anticipation and control. Deficits in executive functions are present in many cerebellar pathologies and there is also an important link between motor development and the development of many higher-order cognitive and functional domains. Further studies are needed to clarify the role of the cerebellum in executive functions both in pathological or normal conditions in the developmental age.