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Event ANT Neuromeeting 2027 - Berlin starts on Jan 14, 2027, 8:00:00 AM (Europe/Berlin)
Frank Van Overwalle
(30 minutes)
Frank Van Overwalle
Frank Van Overwalle, PhD
Professor at Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Brain, Body & Cognition Research Group (BBCO)
Frank Van Overwalle, PhD
Professor at Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Brain, Body & Cognition Research Group (BBCO)
Frank Van Overwalle's current interest is on the posterior cerebellum involved in processing social action sequences, or routines, in which individuals interact with one another while anticipating individual or shared beliefs and future actions.

He has conducted fMRI neuroimaging studies to investigate the functioning of the social cerebellum and has used non-invasive transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to examine the causal impact of the posterior cerebellum on social performance, as well as its potential to enhance social functioning in neurotypical and autistic participants. More recently, he has developed an interest in using non-invasive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to explore these questions in greater depth.
For along time, the human cerebellum was considered to be mainly involved in motor coordination. Several decades ago, however, it was recognized that the cerebellum was also supporting human cognition and affect, and during the last decade more evidence demonstrated that the posterior cerebellar Crus is essential for human social cognition, in particular for the temporal coordination of social action sequences.
This talk gives a brief overview of evidence on humans during the last decade which shows the strong involvement of the posterior cerebellar Crus in a plethora of human social and emotional sequencing functions, as well as recent attempts to improve social functioning with non-invasive stimulation using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).