The role of the human cerebellum in representing social behavior sequences: An SDM-PSI meta-analysis

• Published in: NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.) Vol. 315; p. 121277
• Main Authors: Zhang, Yuting, Qiu, Yidan, Lin, Shuting, Zheng, Xiaoyu, Tan, Liwei, Liu, Xia, Huang, Ruiwang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 15.07.2025; Elsevier Limited; Elsevier
• Subjects: Brain; Brain Mapping - methods; Cerebellum; Cerebellum - diagnostic imaging; Cerebellum - physiology; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Humans; Hypotheses; Image processing; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Mentalization; Meta-analysis; Neuroimaging; SDM-PSI meta-analysis; Social Behavior; Social behavior sequences; Social Cognition; Social interaction; Social interactions; Cerebellum; Mentalization; SDM-PSI meta-analysis; Social behavior sequences; Social cognition
• ISSN: 1053-8119; 1095-9572; 1095-9572
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121277

•The posterior cerebellum involves the sequencing process of social mentalizing events.•In social contexts, the explicit sequencing processes elicit stronger cerebellar activation than non-sequencing processes.•The cerebellar sequence detection function is more applicable to sequencing processes in social contexts rather than in non-social contexts.•The posterior cerebellum exhibits functional heterogeneous activation patterns, with distinct functional specializations in Crus I and Crus II. Although the cerebellum has been widely considered to be a motor structure, recent studies have shown that it is also involved in constructing sequences of social events. However, little is known about (1) whether explicit sequencing processes elicit stronger cerebellar activation than non-sequencing processes, (2) whether the cerebellar sequence detection function is more applicable to social or non-social contexts, or (3) whether the cerebellum exhibits consistent or heterogeneous activation patterns in representing behavioral sequences across contexts. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis of 13 neuroimaging studies by using a seed-based d mapping with permutation of subject images (SDM-PSI) approach. The results showed that the cerebellar Crus I and II were activated more strongly in social sequencing processes than in social non-sequencing, indicating that sequence detection is a basic function of the cerebellum. In sequencing processes, the cerebellar posterior Crus II responded more strongly to social than to non-social events, suggesting that the sequencing function of this cerebellar sub-region is more applicable to social contexts. The posterior cerebellum exhibited heterogeneous activation patterns, with distinct functional specializations in Crus I and Crus II. These findings provide a deeper understanding of the functions of the cerebellar regions in social cognition.