What is it about?
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was used to interfere with motor planning in a load-bearing task. Participants had less control over their imminent actions when supplementary motor cortex (SMA) was stimulated 400–500 ms prior to the response.
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Why is it important?
We showed that SMA contributes to the prediction of the sensory consequences of planned actions well before movement onset. Despite having active control over the situation, participants were less able to bear the load successfully when TMS was delivered ~ half a second before. Stimulation at the time (or around) action execution was ineffective.
Perspectives
Only after a pilot participant complained about the need to hold the heavy object for a prolonged period of time, we thought about the platform, giving a participant active control over its release, etc. Although SMA is a natural candidate for stimulation in this context, I first tried PPC (and had no success whatsoever).
Professor (Full) Gregory Kroliczak
Uniwersytet im Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Human Supplementary Motor Area Contribution to Predictive Motor Planning, Journal of Motor Behavior, July 2011, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/00222895.2011.584085.
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