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The Journal of Neuroscience, October 27, 2004, 24(43):9698-9702; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1738-04.2004

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Enhanced Accuracy in Novel Mirror Drawing after Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation-Induced Proprioceptive Deafferentation

Daniela Balslev,^1,3 Lars O. D. Christensen,⁴ Ji-Hang Lee,⁴ Ian Law,^1,2 Olaf B. Paulson,^1,3 and R. Christopher Miall⁴

¹Neurobiology Research Unit and ²Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark, ³Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Hvidovre Hospital, 2650 Hvidovre, Denmark, and ⁴University Laboratory of Physiology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PT, United Kingdom

When performing visually guided actions under conditions of perturbed visual feedback, e.g., in a mirror or a video camera, there is a spatial conflict between visual and proprioceptive information. Recent studies have shown that subjects without proprioception avoid this conflict and show a performance benefit. In this study, we tested whether deafferentation induced by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) can improve mirror tracing skills in normal subjects. Hand trajectory error during novel mirror drawing was compared across two groups of subjects that received either 1 Hz rTMS over the somatosensory cortex contralateral to the hand or sham stimulation. Mirror tracing was more accurate after rTMS than after sham stimulation. Using a position-matching task, we confirmed that rTMS reduced proprioceptive acuity and that this reduction was largest when the coil was placed at an anterior parietal site. It is thus possible, with rTMS, to enhance motor performance in tasks involving a visuoproprioceptive conflict, presumably by reducing the excitability of somatosensory cortical areas that contribute to the sense of hand position.

Key words: proprioceptive; visual; somatosensory; hand; parietal; motor activity

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Received April 29, 2004; revised August 25, 2004; accepted September 4, 2004.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. Balslev and R. C. Miall Eye Position Representation in Human Anterior Parietal Cortex J. Neurosci., September 3, 2008; 28(36): 8968 - 8972. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				N. Malfait, D. Y. Henriques, and P. L. Gribble Shape Distortion Produced by Isolated Mismatch Between Vision and Proprioception J Neurophysiol, January 1, 2008; 99(1): 231 - 243. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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