TY - JOUR
T1 - Transcranial magnetic stimulation and the motor learning-associated cortical plasticity
AU - Ljubisavljevic, Milos
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments The author acknowledges the support of the Serbian Ministry for Science, Technology and Development Grant 145083.
PY - 2006/8
Y1 - 2006/8
N2 - It has been well established that repetitive motor performance and skill learning alter the functional organization of human corticomotoneuronal system. Over the past decade, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has helped to demonstrate motor practice and learning-related changes in corticomotoneuronal excitability and representational plasticity. It has also provided some insights into the mechanisms underlying such plasticity. TMS-derived indices show that motor practice, skill acquisition and learning are associated with an increase in cortical excitability and a modulation of intracortical inhibition partly related to the amount of GABA-related inhibition. It has been suggested that these changes in excitability might be related to learning and motor memory formation in the motor cortex. However, it has proved difficult to relate different aspects of TMS-derived representational plasticity with specific behavioral outcomes. A better understanding of the relationship between TMS measurements of practice-related cortical plasticity and underlying mechanisms, in the context of associated changes in behavior, will facilitate the development of techniques and protocols that will allow predictable modulation of cortical plasticity in health and disease.
AB - It has been well established that repetitive motor performance and skill learning alter the functional organization of human corticomotoneuronal system. Over the past decade, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has helped to demonstrate motor practice and learning-related changes in corticomotoneuronal excitability and representational plasticity. It has also provided some insights into the mechanisms underlying such plasticity. TMS-derived indices show that motor practice, skill acquisition and learning are associated with an increase in cortical excitability and a modulation of intracortical inhibition partly related to the amount of GABA-related inhibition. It has been suggested that these changes in excitability might be related to learning and motor memory formation in the motor cortex. However, it has proved difficult to relate different aspects of TMS-derived representational plasticity with specific behavioral outcomes. A better understanding of the relationship between TMS measurements of practice-related cortical plasticity and underlying mechanisms, in the context of associated changes in behavior, will facilitate the development of techniques and protocols that will allow predictable modulation of cortical plasticity in health and disease.
KW - Cortical plasticity
KW - Cortical reorganization
KW - Motor learning
KW - Transcranial magnetic stimulation
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U2 - 10.1007/s00221-006-0538-z
DO - 10.1007/s00221-006-0538-z
M3 - Article
C2 - 16733699
AN - SCOPUS:33747615525
SN - 0014-4819
VL - 173
SP - 215
EP - 222
JO - Experimental Brain Research
JF - Experimental Brain Research
IS - 2
ER -