• Pablo Arias, Verónica Robles-García, Nelson Espinosa, Yoanna Corral-Bergantiños, Laura Mordillo-Mateos, Kenneth Grieve, Antonio Oliviero, and Javier Cudeiro.
• Laboratory of Neuroscience and Motor Control (NEUROcom), Department of Medicine-INEF-Galicia and Institute of Biomedical Research of Coruña, University of A Coruña, A Coruña, Spain;
• J. Neurophysiol. 2014 Apr 1; 111 (7): 1479-86.

AbstractThe corticospinal tract excitability is modulated when preparing movements. Earlier to movement execution, the excitability of the spinal cord increases waiting for supraspinal commands to release the movement. Movement execution and movement observation share processes within the motor system, although movement observation research has focused on processes later to movement onset. We used single and paired pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation on M1 (n = 12), and electrical cervicomedullary stimulation (n = 7), to understand the modulation of the corticospinal system during the "preparation" to observe a third person's movement. Subjects passively observed a hand that would remain still or make an index finger extension. The observer's corticospinal excitability rose when "expecting to see a movement" vs. when "expecting to see a still hand." The modulation took origin at a spinal level and not at the corticocortical networks explored. We conclude that expectancy of seeing movements increases the excitability of the spinal cord.

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