Corticomotor excitability during precision motor tasks
Open accessAbstract
The aim of this preliminary study was to investigate motor cortex (cortical) excitability between a similar fine visuomotor task of varying difficulty. Ten healthy adults (three female, seven male; 20-45 years of age) participated in the study. Participants were instructed to perform a fine visuomotor task by statically abducting their first index finger against a force transducer which displayed the level of force (represented as a marker) on a computer monitor. This marker was to be maintained between two stationary bars, also displayed on the computer monitor. The level of difficulty was increased by amplifying the position of the marker, making the task more difficult to control. Cortical measures of motor evoked potential (MEP) and silent period (SP) duration in first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscle were obtained using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) while the participant maintained the "easy" or "difficult" static task. An 11.8% increase in MEP amplitude was observed when subjects undertook the "difficult" task, but no differences in MEP latency or SP duration. The results from this preliminary study suggest that cortical excitability increases reflect the demand required to perform tasks requiring greater precision with suggestions for further research discussed.
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Attention and task difficulty are known non-specific modulators of corticospinal excitability and plasticity.
“Indeed, non-specific factors such as attention and task difficulty are known to modulate corticospinal excitability and plasticity (Beck and Hallett, 2010; Conte et al., 2007; Pearce and Kidgell, 2009; Stefan et al., 2004).”
From To imitate or not: Avoiding imitation involves preparatory inhibition of motor resonance (2014) · cites this paper as Pearce and Kidgell, 2009
The Results and Discussion (page numbers not provided) show that the more difficult precision task increased motor-evoked-potential amplitude, supporting task difficulty as a modulator of cortical excitability. The paper does not establish attention as a modulator, and it proposes measuring plasticity in future work rather than demonstrating a plasticity effect. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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- Authors
- Pearce, A. J., & Kidgell, D. J.
- Affiliations
- Victoria University (AU)
- Deakin University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Pearce, Alan J.
- Venue
- Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2009-03
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 280-283
- ISSN
- 1440-2440 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2074502664
- Cited by
- 53
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 1.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of science and medicine in sport (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Victoria University Research Repository (Victoria University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Motor Control and Adaptation
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Muscle activation and electromyography studies
- Keywords
- motor cortex excitability, motor evoked potentials, silent period, first dorsal interosseous muscle, visuomotor control, task difficulty, transcranial magnetic stimulation, finger abduction
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Motor Cortex, Motor Skills, Pilot Projects, Cohort Studies, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Young Adult
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