Disturbances of kinaesthesia in patients with cerebellar disorders

We studied the ability of patients with cerebellar degeneration to perceive differences in kinaesthetic stimuli and compared it with that of normal subjects. All participants were tested for duration, amplitude and velocity sensation. In separate experiments, the responses of muscle spindle afferents and slowly adapting cutaneous mechanoreceptors to the kinaesthetic stimuli were recorded. The performance of patients with cerebellar degeneration was significantly worse than that of normal subjects on the tasks testing for duration and velocity perception. Although both spindle afferents and slowly adapting cutaneous mechanoreceptors were able to provide relevant sensory information during the kinaesthetic tasks, spindle afferents were superior in detecting velocity changes. These results suggest that the cerebellum may be involved in processing sensory signals that are involved in motor control as well as in conscious perception.