Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Corticospinal disinhibition during dual action

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Experimental Brain Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

When attempting to perform two tasks simultaneously, the human motor as well as the cognitive system shows interference. Such interference often causes altered activation of the cortical area representing each task compared to the single task condition. We investigated changes in corticospinal inhibition during dual action by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Single-pulse TMS was applied to the left motor cortex, triggered by right leg movement (tibialis anterior muscle) while the right abductor digiti minimi (ADM) muscle was moderately activated (10–20% of the maximal voluntary contraction). The background electromyography (EMG) activity of ADM was measured before and during the leg movement. The silent period (SP) and amplitude of motor evoked potential (MEP) following magnetic stimulation in active ADM were compared for the conditions with and without leg movement. The mean area of the rectified EMG activity of ADM did not alter, while the SP was significantly shortened during leg movement compared to that without leg movement. MEP amplitude was comparable between the two conditions. These results suggest that corticospinal inhibition tested by the SP duration is reduced during the movement of another body part, presumably in order to help maintain muscle force by compensating interference-related alteration in motor cortical activation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1a–b
Fig. 2a–b
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Dai TH, Liu JZ, Sahgal V, Brown RW, Yue GH (2001) Relationship between muscle output and functional MRI-measured brain activation. Exp Brain Res 140:290–300

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Debaere F, Swinnen SP, Beatse E, Sunaert S, Van Hecke P, Duysens J (2001) Brain areas involved in interlimb coordination: a distributed network. NeuroImage 14:947–958

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dettmers C, Connelly A, Stephan KM, Turner R, Friston KJ, Frackowiak RS, Gadian DG (1996) Quantitative comparison of functional magnetic resonance imaging with positron emission tomography using a force-related paradigm. NeuroImage 4:201–209

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Donchin O, Gribova A, Steinberg O, Bergman H, Vaadia E (1998) Primary motor cortex is involved in bimanual coordination. Nature 395:274–278

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Donchin O, Gribova A, Steinberg O, Bergman H, Cardoso de Oliveira S, Vaadia E (2001) Local field potentials related to bimanual movements in the primary and supplementary motor cortices. Exp Brain Res 140:46–55

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fuhr P, Agostino R, Hallett M (1991) Spinal motor neuron excitability during the silent period after cortical stimulation. Electroen Clin Neuro 81:257–262

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Garvey MA, Ziemann U, Becker DA, Barker CA, Bartko JJ (2001) New graphical method to measure silent periods evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation. Clin Neurophysiol 112:1451–1460

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Inghilleri M, Berardelli A, Cruccu G, Manfredi M (1993) Silent period evoked by transcranial stimulation of the human cortex and cervicomedullary junction. J Physiol 466: 521–534

    Google Scholar 

  • Nilsson J, Panizza M, Arieti P (1997) Computer-aided determination of the silent period. J Clin Neurophysiol 14:136–143

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Oda S, Moritani T (1995) Movement-related cortical potentials during handgrip contractions with special reference to force and electromyogram bilateral deficit. Eur J Appl Physiol O 72:1-5

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pashler H (1994) Dual-task interference in simple tasks: data and theory. Psychol Bull 116:220–244

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pfadt A, Wheeler DJ (1995) Using statistical process control to make data-based clinical decisions. J Appl Behav Anal 28:349–370

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Siebner HR, Dressnandt J, Auer C, Conrad B (1998) Continuous intrathecal baclofen infusions induced a marked increase of the transcranially evoked silent period in a patient with generalized dystonia. Muscle Nerve 21:1209–1212

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sohn YH, Hallett M (2004) Surround inhibition in human motor cortex. Exp Brain Res 158:397–404

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sohn YH, Kaelin-Lang A, Jung HY, Hallett M (2001) Effect of levetiracetam on human corticospinal excitability. Neurology 57:858–863

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Swinnen SP (2002) Intermanual coordination: from behavioural principles to neural-network interactions. Nat Rev Neurosci 3:348–359

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Taniguchi Y, Burle B, Vidal F, Bonnet M (2001) Deficit in motor cortical activity for simultaneous bimanual responses. Exp Brain Res 137:259–268

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thickbroom GW, Phillips BA, Morris I, Byrnes ML, Mastaglia FL (1998) Isometric force-related activity in sensorimotor cortex measured with functional MRI. Exp Brain Res 121:59–64

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Triggs WJ, Cros D, Macdonell RA, Chiappa KH, Fang J, Day BJ (1993) Cortical and spinal motor excitability during the transcranial magnetic stimulation silent period in humans. Brain Res 628:39–48

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wu T, Sommer M, Tergau F, Paulus W (2000) Modification of the silent period by double transcranial magnetic stimulation. Clin Neurophysiol 111:1868–1872

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Devera G. Schoenberg, MSc, for skillful editing.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology and Brain Research Institute, Brain Korea 21 Project for Medical Science, Yonsei University College of Medicine, C.P.O. Box 8044, Seoul, Korea

    Young H. Sohn & Suk Y. Kang

  2. Human Motor Control Section, NINDS / NIH, Bldg. 10/5N226, 10 Center Dr., Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA

    Mark Hallett

Authors
  1. Young H. Sohn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Suk Y. Kang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mark Hallett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mark Hallett.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sohn, Y.H., Kang, S.Y. & Hallett, M. Corticospinal disinhibition during dual action. Exp Brain Res 162, 95–99 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-004-2109-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-004-2109-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation