Investigation of cerebro-cerebellar reward-based mechanisms on a virtual neurorobot

Combining computational neuroscience tools with robotic devices allows to reproduce and investigate the interactions between embodied functional brain models and sensoryrich environments, integrating neural activity and behavioral data. As these models seldom include faithful biological features, their development can be used to suggest and test hypotheses on neurophysiological or pathological mechanisms, eventually impacting on challenging clinical applications. This project implemented a virtual neurorobotic experiment aimed at investigating the functional role of cerebro-cerebellar interactions in motor learning tasks, specifically designed to clarify the contribution of different brain areas in motor preparation and execution during rewarded goal-oriented actions.