Early consolidation in human primary motor cortex

• Published in: Nature (London) Vol. 415; no. 6872; pp. 640 - 644
• Main Authors: Muellbacher, Wolf, Ziemann, Ulf, Wissel, Joerg, Dang, Nguyet, Kofler, Markus, Facchini, Stefano, Boroojerdi, Babak, Poewe, Werner, Hallett, Mark
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 07.02.2002; Nature Publishing; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Brain; Brain Mapping; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hands; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Learning - physiology; letter; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Middle Aged; Motor ability; Motor control and motor pathways. Reflexes. Control centers of vegetative functions. Vestibular system and equilibration; Motor Cortex - physiology; Motor Skills - physiology; multidisciplinary; Neurology; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs; Human; Manual task; Consolidation; Motor pathway; Motor cortex; Central nervous system; Body movement; Motor learning; Motor control; Brain (vertebrata)
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/nature712

Behavioural studies indicate that a newly acquired motor skill is rapidly consolidated from an initially unstable state to a more stable state 1 , whereas neuroimaging studies demonstrate that the brain engages new regions for performance of the task as a result of this consolidation 2 . However, it is not known where a new skill is retained and processed before it is firmly consolidated. Some early aspects of motor skill acquisition involve the primary motor cortex (M1) 3 , but the nature of that involvement is unclear. We tested the possibility that the human M1 is essential to early motor consolidation. We monitored changes in elementary motor behaviour while subjects practised fast finger movements that rapidly improved in movement acceleration and muscle force generation. Here we show that low-frequency, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of M1 but not other brain areas specifically disrupted the retention of the behavioural improvement, but did not affect basal motor behaviour, task performance, motor learning by subsequent practice, or recall of the newly acquired motor skill. These findings indicate that the human M1 is specifically engaged during the early stage of motor consolidation.