Induction of plasticity in the human motor cortex by pairing an auditory stimulus with TMS

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

Paul Fredrick Sowman¹  Jesper eRasmussen²  Natalie eMrachacz-Kersting²  Søren eDueholm² 

[1] ARC Centre of Excellence for Cognition and its Disorders;Aalborg University;Macquarie University;

关键词: Auditory Cortex;    Motor Cortex;    Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation;    plasticity;    Paired associative stimulation;    speech sounds;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fnhum.2014.00398

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Acoustic stimuli can cause a transient increase in the excitability of the motor cortex. The current study leverages this phenomenon to develop a method for testing the integrity of auditorimotor integration and the capacity for auditorimotor plasticity. We demonstrate that appropriately timed transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the hand area, paired with auditorily mediated excitation of the motor cortex, induces an enhancement of motor cortex excitability that lasts beyond the time of stimulation. This result demonstrates for the first time that paired associative stimulation (PAS) -induced plasticity within the motor cortex is applicable with auditory stimuli. We propose that the method developed here might provide a useful tool for future studies that measure auditory-motor connectivity in communication disorders.

【 授权许可】

Unknown