EEG and neuronavigated single-pulse TMS in the study of the observation/execution matching system: Are both techniques measuring the same process?

No evidence for mirror system dysfunction in schizophrenia from a multimodal TMS/EEG study

“…This study is the only the second to directly compare EEG mu suppression and TMS interpersonal motor resonance concurrently, and the current sample (n=30) is significantly larger than that of the previous study (n=16; Lepage et al, 2008). In contrast to Lepage and colleagues, we found a significant relationship of moderate strength between our EEG and TMS measures of the mirror system.…”

“…While EEG and TMS are both commonly used to measure putative mirror system activity, there is limited information about the comparability of these techniques. One study used simultaneous EEG and TMS in healthy participants and found mu suppression and higher motor resonance in response to observed action, imagination and execution of movements compared to rest; however, the mu suppression and motor resonance variables did not correlate (Lepage et al, 2008). The authors suggested that motor resonance and mu suppression may therefore represent different aspects of the mirror system, and should not be used interchangeably.…”

Frequency-Dependent Tuning of the Human Motor System Induced by Transcranial Oscillatory Potentials

“…The increase of corticospinal output induced by tACS at ␤ range is consistent among subjects, and it seems to be potent enough to overcome the poor relationships between amplitude/ phase of oscillatory 20 Hz spontaneous activity of rolandic neurons and the size of motor responses evoked by TMS of the motor cortex (Zarkowski et al, 2006;Mitchell et al, 2007;Lepage et al, 2008;Sauseng et al, 2009). A likely explanation is that spontaneous oscillations and MEPs size reflect the excitability of the human motor system in overlapping, but not identical, neuronal populations (Mäki and Ilmoniemi, 2010).…”

Combining TMS and EEG Offers New Prospects in Cognitive Neuroscience

“…Several studies have explored the possibility of inducing frequency specific effects by rhythmic TMS to modify cognition (Klimesch et al 2003) and motor output measures (Brignani et al 2008), showing that brain rhythms are causally implicated in shaping behavior. Others have used single-pulse TMS to define the relationship between the oscillatory state of the cortex and the response to a subsequent TMS pulse Lepage et al 2008;Romei et al 2008a, b;Sauseng et al 2008). Thus, EEG can be used to study how TMS interacts with rhythmic brain activity, and vice versa, as well as how rhythmic brain stimulation can be used to modify brain functions.…”