From general factors to response generalisation: the importance of the cerebellum for mental health and social effectiveness

Various psychometric general factor models exist to describe a diverse range of human psychological traits e.g. general factors of intelligence, personality and psychopathology. Historically, these latent traits have been viewed and studied as distinct constructs. However, accumulating evidence demonstrates empirical overlap, and conceptual proposals have been made arguing that collectively these traits form a marker of general social effectiveness. Here I argue that the cerebellum has an important, and previously neglected role in supporting diverse general factor psychological traits that enable such social effectiveness. In this conceptual article, I review evidence derived largely from neuroimaging studies, that these general traits (intelligence, personality, psychopathology and others) share overlapping neural correlates, and potentially shared underlying computations in the cerebellum. This is important as the cerebellum has an integrative role in skilled behaviour and psychological flexibility by enabling cognitive, affective and behavioural generalisation and adaptation across diverse environmental contexts. This article also discusses the importance of the cerebellum for understanding general factor development, given the early maturational timing of the cerebellum, and high sensitivity to early environmental influence. Finally, I propose a cerebellar role within the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiToP); an important framework for understanding of the latent transdiagnostic structure of psychopathology. If correct, consideration of the cerebellum can facilitate integration of psychometric and translational neuroscience perspectives to provide a broader and unified biopsychosocial understanding of psychological, and specifically mental health phenomena.