REVIEW The Contribution of the Cerebellum in the Hierarchial Development of the Self Mehmet Emin Ceylan 1 & Aslıhan Dönmez 2 & Barış Önen Ülsalver 3 Published online: 5 May 2015 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015 Abstract What distinguishes human beings from other living organisms is that a human perceives himself as a Bself^. The self is developed hierarchially in a multi-layered process, which is based on the evolutionary maturation of the nervous system and patterns according to the rules and demands of the external world. Many researchers have attempted to explain the different aspects of the self, as well as the related neural substrates. In this paper, we first review the previously pro- posed ideas regarding the neurobiology of the self. We then suggest a new hypothesis regarding the hierarchial self, which proposes that the self is developed at three stages: subjective, objective, and reflective selves. In the second part, we attempt to answer the question BWhy do we need a self?^ We therefore explain that different parts of the self developed in an effort to identify stability in space, stability against constantly chang- ing objects, and stability against changing cognitions. Finally, we discuss the role of the cerebellum as the neural substrate for the self. Keywords Self . Development . Neurobiology . Cerebellum Introduction The notion of having a Bself^ includes the perception of being a constant entity in time and space, receiving inputs from the outer world according to this constant, and correcting the er- rors of this perception. Here, the reference point is the self. All objects in the outer world are perceived according to this ref- erence point. How does the reference point referred to as the self devel- op? Which neural mechanisms underlie the self? All previous- ly described ideas regarding the development of the self have two common points: (1) the need to describe the development of the self as a multi-layered process and (2) the idea that there is a hierarchial development of the self based on the evolu- tionary maturation of the nervous system. These previous ideas, as well as related neuroanatomical regions, are summa- rized in Table 1. We suggest these previous ideas have a lim- itation. We agree that the self should develop hierarchially, according to the needs and demands of the outer world and in parallel to the evolutional and chronological maturation of the central nervous system. However, we believe that the ma- jor and most primitive role of the self is to create a fixed, constant reference point of perception and to function as a stable point against the ongoing movement in space. Thus, the most primitive part of the self needs a neural base which will be in charge of the identification of this fixed point. The best neuroanatomical candidate for this function is the cere- bellum, which is a region never mentioned in discussions of the neurobiological basis of the self. In this paper, we aim to present the rationale behind this idea and the neuroscientific proof for this hypothesis. To fulfill this aim, we will first review the previously suggested neural basis of the self. We will subsequently propose our idea that the hierarchial development of the self occurs in three stages: subjective, objective, and reflective selves. Next, we will pres- ent the rationale behind our hypothesis that the self is devel- oped because of a need to identify a fixed point in space. We will discuss that the cerebellum should be the neural basis of the subjective self and present the neuroscientific proof (non- * Aslıhan Dönmez draslihandonmez@gmail.com 1 Department of Psychology, Üsküdar University, Istanbul, Turkey 2 Department of Psychiatry, Gazi University Hospital Beşevler, Ankara, Turkey 3 Üsküdar University, Istanbul, Turkey Cerebellum (2015) 14:711–721 DOI 10.1007/s12311-015-0675-7