Consensus: Motor cortex plasticity protocols

Influence of attention alternation on movement-related cortical potentials in healthy individuals and stroke patients

“…Equally important is the effect that low attention has on the induction of this type of plasticity. If attention is low then no plasticity is evoked, irrespective of the correct association between the intent and the reproduction of that movement (Stefan et al, 2004;Ziemann et al, 2008). Thus the results presented here highlight the importance of online single channel monitoring for drifts in attention that cannot be revealed by the more robust Laplacian approach.…”

“…Reduction in the attentional load can delay motor execution (Tard et al, 2014) since it has a significant effect on working memory and procedural learning (Ziemann et al, 2008). In our experiment, when participants were asked to complete the auditory oddball task between dorsiflexion sets, their attentional focus was decreased internally, thus likely leading to a diminished learning process (Johnson et al, 2013).…”

“…Neuromodulation feedback in BCI systems and brain plasticity are depended on movement detection latency and accuracy but also influenced by attention of the BCI user (Ziemann et al, 2008). In the present study, the MRCP from a single channel as well as a combination of nine channels when using Laplacian were used to quantify the effect of attention alternation.…”

“…This is the first step towards a design for an adaptable detection algorithm that can capture the changes in attention of the user. The results will have important implications for the design of a BCI to be used in real life settings, since cortical plasticity induction is known to be affected by attention on the task (Stefan et al, 2004;Ziemann et al, 2008). We hypothesized that a decrease in attention due to an attention switch between two tasks would directly influence the MRCP characteristics in healthy participants as well as chronic stroke patients, and therefore the BCI performance.…”

Exploring prefrontal cortex functions in healthy humans by transcranial electrical stimulation

“…If modulation of physiological processes results in functional alterations, a causal relationship can be assumed. In the last years, a couple of such stimulation protocols have become available, allowing non-invasive modulation of brain activity and excitability, and thus are principally suited to serve this aim [12][13][14][15] . In this review, we give an overview of the principal mechanisms of the tools, and their applications for the exploration of prefrontal functions.…”