Previous transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies have revealed that the activity of the primary motor cortex ipsilateral to an active hand (ipsi-M1) plays an important role in motor control. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the ipsi-M1 excitability would be influenced by goal-directed movement and laterality during unilateral finger movements.
Ten healthy right-handed subjects performed four finger tapping tasks with the index finger: (1) simple tapping (Tap) task, (2) Real-word task, (3) Pseudoword task, and (4) Visually guided tapping (VT) task. In the Tap task, the subject performed self-paced simple tapping on a touch screen. In the real-word task, the subject tapped letters displayed on the screen one by one to create a Real-word (e.g., apple). Because the action had a specific purpose (i.e., creating a word), this task was considered to be goal-directed as compared to the Tap task. In the Pseudoword task, the subject tapped the letters to create a pseudoword (e.g., gdiok) in the same manner as in the Real-word task; however, the word was less meaningful. In the VT task, the subject was required to touch a series of illuminated buttons. This task was considered to be less goal-directed than the Pseudoword task. The tasks were performed with the right and left hand, and a rest condition was added as control. Single- and paired-pulse TMS were applied to the ipsi-M1 to measure corticospinal excitability and short- and long-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI and LICI) in the resting first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscle.
We found the smaller SICI in the ipsi-M1 during the VT task compared with the resting condition. Further, both SICI and LICI were smaller in the right than in the left M1, regardless of the task conditions.
We found that SICI in the ipsi-M1 is smaller during visual illumination-guided finger movement than during the resting condition. Our finding provides basic data for designing a rehabilitation program that modulates the M1 ipsilateral to the moving limb, for example, for post-stroke patients with severe hemiparesis.