Premotor Cortex: A New Target for Stroke Motor Rehabilitation

Inclusion Criteria

• •Motor training only (pilot participants):
• •Have the ability to give informed, written consent
• •Be aged 18-80 years old
• •Be right-handed using the Edinburgh handedness inventory
• •Have intact cognitive abilities (score higher than 75th percentile on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS))
• •No current depression (score less than 7 on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS))
• •No neurological disease
• •No contradictions to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
• •TMS over the extensor carpi ulnaris (ECU) hotspot must evoke a motor evoked potential (MEP) in the ECU muscle
• •MEP amplitude must increase by at least 20% as the TMS intensity increases
• •The subjects must be comfortable when receiving TMS of all strengths.
• •Remaining study participants:
• •Have the ability to give informed, written consent
• •Be aged 55-80 years old
• •Be right-handed using the Edinburgh handedness inventory
• •Have intact cognitive abilities (score higher than 75th percentile on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS))
• •No current depression (score less than a 7 on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS))
• •No neurological disease
• •No contradictions to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
• •TMS over the extensor carpi ulnaris (ECU) hotspot must be able to evoke a motor evoked potential (MEP) in the ECU muscle
• •MEP amplitude must increase by at least 20% as the TMS intensity increases
• •The subjects must be comfortable when receiving TMS of all strengths.