Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35503930›Full record

Trial reportPsychophysiology2022

The role of the primary motor cortex in motor imagery: A theta burst stimulation study.

Pamela Barhoun, Ian Fuelscher, Michael Do, Jason L He, Andris Cerins, Soukayna Bekkali, George J Youssef, Daniel Corp, Brendan P Major, Dwayne Meaney and 2 more

Open access · hybridAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Psychophysiology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
1.3field-weighted citation impact, top 22% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Trial
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.

Pamela BarhounCognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-7238-4216
Ian FuelscherCognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
Michael DoCognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
Jason L HeDepartment of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Sackler Institute for Translational Neurodevelopment, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Andris CerinsCognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
Soukayna BekkaliCognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
George J YoussefCognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
Daniel CorpCognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
Brendan P MajorCognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
Dwayne MeaneyCognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
Peter G EnticottCognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
Christian HydeCognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
Deakin University · AUKing's College London · GBRoyal Children's Hospital · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

While mentally simulated actions activate similar neural structures to overt movement, the role of the primary motor cortex (PMC) in motor imagery remains disputed. The aim of the study was to use continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) to modulate corticospinal activity to investigate the putative role of the PMC in implicit motor imagery in young adults with typical and atypical motor ability. A randomized, double blind, sham-controlled, crossover, offline cTBS protocol was applied to 35 young adults. During three separate sessions, adults with typical and low motor ability (developmental coordination disorder [DCD]), received active cTBS to the PMC and supplementary motor area (SMA), and sham stimulation to either the PMC or SMA. Following stimulation, participants completed measures of motor imagery (i.e., hand rotation task) and visual imagery (i.e., letter number rotation task). Although active cTBS significantly reduced corticospinal excitability in adults with typical motor ability, neither task performance was altered following active cTBS to the PMC or SMA, compared to performance after sham cTBS. These results did not differ across motor status (i.e., typical motor ability and DCD). These findings are not consistent with our hypothesis that the PMC (and SMA) is directly involved in motor imagery. Instead, previous motor cortical activation observed during motor imagery may be an epiphenomenon of other neurophysiological processes and/or activity within brain regions involved in motor imagery. This study highlights the need to consider multi-session theta burst stimulation application and its neural effects when probing the putative role of motor cortices in motor imagery.

Indexed as

Motor CortexDouble-Blind MethodEvoked Potentials, MotorHandHumansImagery, PsychotherapyTheta RhythmTranscranial Magnetic StimulationYoung Adultcontinuous theta burst stimulationhand rotation taskinternal modelingmotor imageryprimary motor cortextypical motor development

Identifiers

PMID35503930
PMCPMC9540768
OpenAlexW4225294579

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.