Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (68)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Rossini, P. M.
Right arrow Articles by Tecchio, F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Rossini, P. M.
Right arrow Articles by Tecchio, F.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Cerebral Cortex, Vol. 9, No. 2, 161-167, March 1999
© 1999 Oxford University Press

Corticospinal Excitability Modulation to Hand Muscles During Movement Imagery

Paolo M. Rossini1,2,3, Simone Rossi3,4, Patrizio Pasqualetti3 and Franca Tecchio5

1 IRCCS ‘Centro S. Giovanni di Dio’ – Fatebenefratelli, Brescia,, 2 IRCCS ‘S. Lucia’, Via Ardeatina, Roma,, 3 AFaR-CRCCS, Divisione Neurologia, Ospedale Fatebenefratelli Isola Tiberina, Roma,, 4 Clinica delle Malattie Nervose e Mentali, Università di Siena, Siena and, 5 Istituto di Electtronica dello Stato Solido, CNR, Roma, Italy

Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) to magnetic transcranial stimulation (TCS) were recorded from right abductor digiti minimi (ADM) and first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscles, sharing the same peripheral innervation but engaged in two different motor demands. In seven healthy and trained subjects, the latencies, amplitudes and variability of MEPs were investigated under the following, randomly intermingled, conditions: full muscular and mental relaxation; mental simulation of selective index finger or little finger abduction; mental non-motor activity (arithmetical calculation); and real motor task (little and index finger abduction). The whole procedure was performed by continuous audiovisual monitoring of electromyographic ‘silence’ in the tested muscles. The maximal facilitatory effects (= latency shortening and amplitude increase) on MEPs were induced by the real motor task. An amplitude potentiation of MEPs in both tested muscles was present during non-motor mental activity, in comparison to basal values. A further amplitude potentiation, without latency shifts, was confined to the muscle acting as ‘prime mover’ for the mentally simulated movement, according to the motor program dispatched but not executed by the subject. Similar results were also found in the F-wave, showing that mental simulation affects spinal motoneuronal excitability as well, although – due to the lack of MEP and F-wave latency shift – the main effect takes place at cortical level. The study shows that movement imagery can focus specific facilitation on the prime-mover muscle for the mentally simulated movement. This is mainly evident on FDI muscle, which controls fingers (i.e. the index) with highly corticalized motor representation.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Physiol.Home page
F. Giovannelli, A. Borgheresi, F. Balestrieri, G. Zaccara, M. P. Viggiano, M. Cincotta, and U. Ziemann
Modulation of interhemispheric inhibition by volitional motor activity: an ipsilateral silent period study
J. Physiol., November 15, 2009; 587(22): 5393 - 5410.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurophysiol.Home page
A. Suppa, M. Bologna, F. Gilio, C. Lorenzano, J. C. Rothwell, and A. Berardelli
Preconditioning Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of Premotor Cortex Can Reduce But Not Enhance Short-Term Facilitation of Primary Motor Cortex
J Neurophysiol, February 1, 2008; 99(2): 564 - 570.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Cereb CortexHome page
C. Mercier, A. Aballea, C. D. Vargas, J. Paillard, and A. Sirigu
Vision without Proprioception Modulates Cortico-spinal Excitability during Hand Motor Imagery
Cereb Cortex, February 1, 2008; 18(2): 272 - 277.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Physiol.Home page
F. Tecchio, C. Porcaro, G. Barbati, and F. Zappasodi
Functional source separation and hand cortical representation for a brain-computer interface feature extraction
J. Physiol., May 1, 2007; 580(3): 703 - 721.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 NeurologyHome page
P. M. Rossini and S. Rossi
Transcranial magnetic stimulation: Diagnostic, therapeutic, and research potential
Neurology, February 13, 2007; 68(7): 484 - 488.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Cereb CortexHome page
P. Cicinelli, B. Marconi, M. Zaccagnini, P. Pasqualetti, M. M. Filippi, and P. M. Rossini
Imagery-induced Cortical Excitability Changes in Stroke: A Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study
Cereb Cortex, February 1, 2006; 16(2): 247 - 253.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Neurorehabil Neural RepairHome page
P. Winchester, R. McColl, R. Querry, N. Foreman, J. Mosby, K. Tansey, and J. Williamson
Changes in Supraspinal Activation Patterns following Robotic Locomotor Therapy in Motor-Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury
Neurorehabil Neural Repair, December 1, 2005; 19(4): 313 - 324.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Cereb CortexHome page
H. Alkadhi, P. Brugger, S. H. Boendermaker, G. Crelier, A. Curt, M.-C. Hepp-Reymond, and S. S. Kollias
What Disconnection Tells about Motor Imagery: Evidence from Paraplegic Patients
Cereb Cortex, February 1, 2005; 15(2): 131 - 140.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Cereb CortexHome page
A. Solodkin, P. Hlustik, E. E. Chen, and S. L. Small
Fine Modulation in Network Activation during Motor Execution and Motor Imagery
Cereb Cortex, November 1, 2004; 14(11): 1246 - 1255.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurosci.Home page
S. Li, D. G. Kamper, J. A. Stevens, and W. Z. Rymer
The Effect of Motor Imagery on Spinal Segmental Excitability
J. Neurosci., October 27, 2004; 24(43): 9674 - 9680.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurophysiol.Home page
H. H. Ehrsson, S. Geyer, and E. Naito
Imagery of Voluntary Movement of Fingers, Toes, and Tongue Activates Corresponding Body-Part-Specific Motor Representations
J Neurophysiol, November 1, 2003; 90(5): 3304 - 3316.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurophysiol.Home page
Y. H. Sohn, N. Dang, and M. Hallett
Suppression of Corticospinal Excitability During Negative Motor Imagery
J Neurophysiol, October 1, 2003; 90(4): 2303 - 2309.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Physiol.Home page
A. Kaelin-Lang, A. R Luft, L. Sawaki, A. H Burstein, Y. H Sohn, and L. G Cohen
Modulation of human corticomotor excitability by somatosensory input
J. Physiol., April 15, 2002; 540(2): 623 - 633.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 NeurologyHome page
M. M. Filippi, M. Oliveri, P. Pasqualetti, P. Cicinelli, R. Traversa, F. Vernieri, M. G. Palmieri, and P. M. Rossini
Effects of motor imagery on motor cortical output topography in Parkinson's disease
Neurology, July 10, 2001; 57(1): 55 - 61.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Cereb CortexHome page
S. Rossi, P. Pasqualetti, P.M. Rossini, B. Feige, M. Ulivelli, F.X. Glocker, N. Battistini, C.H. Lucking, and R. Kristeva-Feige
Effects of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Movement-related Cortical Activity in Humans
Cereb Cortex, August 1, 2000; 10(8): 802 - 808.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.