Beta rebound reduces subsequent movement preparation time by modulating of GABAA inhibition.

Post-movement beta synchronization is an increase of beta power relative to baseline, which commonly used to represent the status quo of the motor system. However, its functional role to the subsequent voluntary motor output and potential electrophysiological significance remain largely unknown. Here, we examined the reaction time of a Go/No-Go task of index finger tapping which performed at the phases of power baseline and post-movement beta synchronization peak induced by index finger abduction movements at different speeds (ballistic/self-paced) in 13 healthy subjects. We found a correlation between the post-movement beta synchronization and reaction time that larger post-movement beta synchronization prolonged the reaction time during Go trials. To probe the electrophysiological significance of post-movement beta synchronization, we assessed intracortical inhibitory measures probably involving GABAB (long-interval intracortical inhibition) and GABAA (short-interval intracortical inhibition) receptors in beta baseline and post-movement beta synchronization peak induced by index finger abduction movements at different speeds. We found that short-interval intracortical inhibition but not long-interval intracortical inhibition increased in post-movement beta synchronization peak compared with that in the power baseline, and was negatively correlated with the change of post-movement beta synchronization peak value. These novel findings indicate that the post-movement beta synchronization is related to forward model updating, with high beta rebound predicting longer time for the preparation of subsequent movement by inhibitory neural pathways of GABAA.

Cortical Contributions to Imagined Power Grip Task: An EEG-Triggered TMS Study.

Previous studies have demonstrated that motor imagery leads to desynchronization in the alpha rhythm within the contralateral primary motor cortex. However, the underlying electrophysiological mechanisms responsible for this desynchronization during motor imagery remain unclear. To examine this question, we conducted an investigation using EEG in combination with noninvasive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) during index finger abduction (ABD) and power grip imaginations. The TMS was administered employing diverse coil orientations to selectively stimulate corticospinal axons, aiming to target both early and late synaptic inputs to corticospinal neurons. TMS was triggered based on the alpha power levels, categorized in 20th percentile bins, derived from the individual alpha power distribution during the imagined tasks of ABD and power grip. Our analysis revealed negative correlations between alpha power and motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitude, as well as positive correlations with MEP latency across all coil orientations for each imagined task. Furthermore, we conducted functional network analysis in the alpha band to explore network connectivity during imagined index finger abduction and power grip tasks. Our findings indicate that network connections were denser in the fronto-parietal area during imagined ABD compared to power grip conditions. Moreover, the functional network properties demonstrated potential for effectively classifying between these two imagined tasks. These results provide functional evidence supporting the hypothesis that alpha oscillations may play a role in suppressing MEP amplitude and latency during imagined power grip. We propose that imagined ABD and power grip tasks may activate different populations and densities of axons at the cortical level.

Behavior-Dependent Corticocortical Contributions to Imagined Grasping: a BCI-triggered TMS study.

Previous studies have indicated that corticocortical neural mechanisms differ during various grasping behaviors. However, the literature rarely considers corticocortical contributions to various imagined grasping behaviors. To address this question, we examine their mechanisms by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) triggered when detecting event-related desynchronization during right-hand grasping behavior imagination through a brain-computer interface (BCI) system. Based on the BCI system, we designed two experiments. In Experiment 1, we explored differences in motor evoked potentials (MEPs) between power grip and resting conditions. In Experiment 2, we used the three TMS coil orientations (lateral-medial (LM), posterior-anterior (PA), and anterior-posterior (AP) directions) over the primary motor cortex to elicit MEPs during imagined index finger abduction, precision grip, and power grip. We found that larger MEP amplitudes and shorter latencies were obtained in imagined power grip than in resting.We also detected lower MEP amplitudes during imagined power grip, while MEP amplitudes remained similar across imagined precision grip and index finger abduction in each TMS coil orientation. Differences in AP-LM latency were longer when subjects imagined a power grip compared with precision grip and index finger abduction. Based on our results, higher cortical excitability may be achieved when humans imagine precision grip and index finger abduction. Our results suggests that higher cortical excitability may be achieved when humans imagine precision grip and index finger abduction. We also propose that preferential recruitment of late synaptic inputs to corticospinal neurons may occur when humans imagine a power grip.