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In 2u1u, }ulie Buque publisheu a papei pioposing two inhibitoiy mechanisms
that act concuiiently, but seive uiffeient computational puiposes uuiing iesponse
piepaiation (Buque et. Al., 2u1u).
1
These inhibitoiy piocesses occui between the
time that a iesponse is selecteu anu withhelu until the time the iesponse is
executeu. The fiist piocess, iefeieeu to as "competition iesolution," seives to
suppiess activity of the non-selecteu action in iesponse to a cue. The seconu
piocess, iefeiieu to as "impulse contiol," seives to suppiess activity of the selecteu
action in iesponse to a cue until it is ieauy to be executeu. It has been obseiveu that
both piocesses occui at uiffeient levels of the motoi pathways involveu in executing
the iesponse.
The Buque stuuy aimeu to examine the contiibution of the fiontal coitex to the
two pioposeu inhibitoiy piocesses thiough the application of both iepetitive
tianscianial magnetic stimulation (iTNS) anu single-pulse tianscianial magnetic
stimulation (sTNS). The application of iTNS seiveu to uisiupt uoisal piemotoi
coitex (PNu) anu the lateial aspect of the piefiontal motoi coitex (LPF) so that
uiffeiences in levels of inhibition coulu be measuieu when the PNu oi LPF weie
uisiupteu. The application of sTNS alloweu inhibitoiy changes in coitico-spinal
excitability to be measuieu in iesponse to the selecteunon-selecteu action to be
executeu.
We note that the Buque papei investigateu the two pioposeu inhibitoiy
mechanisms in ielation to a single fingei iesponse, which auuiesseu the stiength of
inhibition piesent in the coitico-spinal pathway in the iepiesentation of a
selecteunon-selecteu effectoi, but not the sensitivity of this inhibition to the
uifficulty of vaiious iesponses.
To auuiess the question of whethei oi not theie is a ielationship between the
stiength of inhibition anu the complexity of iesponses, Bylan Saks anu Ian
uieenhouse, Ph.B. investigateu the two inhibitoiy mechanisms anu theii
ielationship to the complexity of specific motoi tasks executeu concuiiently. Theii

1
Buque, }., B. Lew, R. Nazzocchio, E. 0liviei, anu R. B. Iviy. "Eviuence foi Two Concuiient Inhibitoiy
Nechanisms uuiing Response Piepaiation." }ouinal of Neuioscience Su.1u (2u1u): S79S-8u2. Piint.
stuuy aims to auuiess whethei oi not inhibitoiy mechanisms aie sensitive to the
complexity of iesponses. The stuuy that I woikeu on with Ian uieenhouse, Ph.B. this
semestei is a continuation of the stuuy heaueu by Bylan anu investigates the
ielationship between the two inhibitoiy piocesses in ielation to complexity of
iesponses when paits of the iesponse aie executeu in sequence.
Foi these two stuuies, we only use sTNS to measuie inhibitoiy changes in
coitico-spinal excitability since we aie inteiesteu in ueteimining whethei oi not
inhibition incieases as the complexity of the iesponse incieases anu whethei oi not
this ielation holus when the complex iesponse is bioken into moie simplifieu steps
anu executeu in sequence.

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We plan to collect uata fiom about eighteen healthy subjects (> 18 yeais olu, male
oi female, iight oi left hanueu) foi this stuuy. So fai we have collecteu uata fiom
nine subjects anu intenu to finish collecting uata foi the othei nine ovei the summei.
The subjects who paiticipateu in the stuuy have been scieeneu foi a histoiy of
seizuies oi migiaines because of the use of single pulse TNS anu theii hanueuness
was ueteimineu by a conuenseu veision of the Euinbuigh Banueuness Inventoiy.

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We uefine two types of tasks, "easy" anu "haiu." The easy task consists of a single
lateial movement of the inuex fingei on eithei the left oi iight hanu. The movement
on the inuex fingei is a left-to-iight movement on the left hanu anu a iight-to-left
movement on the iight hanu. The haiu task consists of the same movement of the
inuex fingei on eithei the iight oi left followeu by a flexion of the pinky fingei on the
same hanu.
We uefine two types of blocks foi the expeiiment, "choice" anu "non-choice,"
which uesignate whethei oi not the subject must ueciue on which hanu to use. The
choice blocks of the expeiiment consist of tiials wheie the subject hau to ueciue on
which hanu to piepaie the iesponse baseu on the cue piesenteu, which will be
uiscusseu below. The non-choice blocks of the expeiiment consist of tiials wheie the
subject hau to move eithei theii left oi iight hanu. The teims "selecteu" anu "non-
selecteu" hanu foi oui expeiiment is maue in iefeience to when the left hanu is
chosen oi not chosen to execute the movement piepaieu since we aie getting NEPs
fiom the left FBI. Thus if we aie conuucting an expeiiment wheie we aie only
pioviuing cues to move the iight hanu, the left hanu is non-selecteu. 0theiwise, the
left hanu is the selecteu hanu foi expeiiments wheie we only pioviue piepatoiy
cues foi movement in the left hanu.
Foi the expeiiment, theie aie six types of expeiimental blocks baseu on the tasks
types anu blocks uesciibeu: easy-selecteu, haiu-selecteu, easy-nonselecteu, haiu-
nonselecteu, easy-choice, anu haiu-choice. The naming convention xxx-yyy of the
blocks inuicates that the movement that the subject was to piepaie uuiing the block
was xxx anu that the type of uecision was yyy. Foi example, an "easy-choice" block
of the expeiiment is a block in which the subject hau to piepaie the easy movement
anu was piesenteu with cues foi both hanus.
Foi the expeiiment, the non-choice blocks: easy-selecteu, haiu-selecteu, easy-
nonselecteu, haiu-nonselecteu weie iun once anu the choice blocks: easy-choice,
haiu-choice weie iun twice each to collect an equal amount of uata foi each hanu as
the non-choice blocks. Each block of the expeiiment consists of foity-two tiials
wheie in each tiial, a fixation is piesenteu, followeu by a cue, followeu by an
impeiative, anu then an inteitiial inteival. The timing anu events in each block will
be uiscusseu in uetail below. Foi the choice blocks, the cues foi each hanu aie split
evenly with twenty-one cues foi the left hanu anu twenty-one cues foi the iight
hanu anu the oiuei in which the cues aie piesenteu aie ianuomizeu. Befoie the
expeiiment, the oiuei in which the six types of blocks aie iun is ianuomizeu so that
the oiuei in which subjects peifoim in each block is uiffeient fiom subject to subject
to account foi any leaining bias that may iesult fiom a specific oiueiing of the
blocks.



123 #,&-#4%(5
To ueteimine muscle activity, we placeu electioues on the iight anu left fiist
uoisal inteiosseuos (FBI) anu abuuctoi uigiti minimi (ABN) muscles, an electioue
on a veitebiae on the back of the neck to uetect the onset of the TNS pulse, anu an
electioue on the meuial epiconuyle of the elbow to seive as a giounu. The ENu uata
useu to ueteimine the ieaction time anu peak-to-peak NEP amplituue of the left fBI
follows the same ciiteiia as the uata useu in }ulie Buque's 2u12 stuuy (Buque et. al.,
2u12).
2
The ENu uata that will be useu foi analysis will come fiom tiials wheie
theie was no ENu activity that exceeueu 1uu v within the 2uu ms winuow
pieceuing the TNS pulse to pievent incluuing uata wheie the NEP might have been
contaminateu by noise fiom the ENu iecoiuing oi movement by the subject befoie
the impeiative is piesenteu. The ENu uata was sampleu at 2uuu hz anu saveu foi
offline piocessing in Natlab wheie analysis of the peak-to-peak amplituue of the
NEPs was useu to ueteimine whethei oi not inhibition hau incieaseu oi uecieaseu
in the coitico-spinal pathway foi the iesponse.

6%(57, !87), .26 !#-$-&-7
Foi the single pulse TNS, a 7umm connecteu to a Nagstim 2uu magnetic
stimulatoi was useu foi the stuuy. The coil was placeu tangentially on the iight
lateial uoisal posteiioi aspect of the heau with the hanule oiienteu towaiu the back
of the heau anu angleu 4S with away fiom the miuline. We then iuentifieu the hot
spot ovei iight N1 foi eliciting NEPs by iunning oui hotspotting pioceuuie, which
consists of tiials S seconus long in which a single TNS pulse is auministeieu in each
tiial. We then tiy to elicit NEPs in S out of 1u consecutive tiials of the hotspotting
pioceuuie, in which single-pulse TNS is applieu in tiials about S seconus long. 0nce
we aie able to iuentify the hot spoit anu elicit NEP's foi S out of 1u consecutive, we
iecoiueu the iesting motoi thiesholu (iNT) of the subject, which was the peicent of

2
Buque, }., L. Labiuna, S. veiset, E. 0liviei, anu R. B. Iviy. "Bissociating the Role of Piefiontal anu
Piemotoi Coitices in Contiolling Inhibitoiy Nechanisms uuiing Notoi Piepaiation." 9-8#("7 -:
;,8#-)&%,(&, S2.S (2u12): 8u6-16. Piint.
the total output of the magnetic stimulatoi we weie using to elicit the NEP's. Foi the
expeiiment, the intensity of the TNS useu was 11u% of the iNT.

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Aftei we iuentifieu the hotspot ovei iight N1, we ian 2u baseline tiials wheie a
TNS pulse is auministeieu in each tiial to measuie the subject's NEPs befoie we
staiteu the expeiiment. The measuiements seive as a baseline foi compaiison to the
subject's NEPs once the expeiiment is completeu.
Buiing the expeiiment, paiticipants weie seateu in fiont of a computei scieen
with both hanus iesting on a pillow, palms facing uown, anu askeu to be as ielaxeu
as possible. Aftei an initial peiiou of 1 seconu, subjects weie piesenteu with a
fixation box on scieen foi 1uu ms to signal the stait of a single tiial. Aftei a uelay of
9uu ms, a piepatoiy cue was piesenteu foi Suu ms to allow the subject to piepaie a
iesponse. The cue piesenteu was eithei a biacket that openeu to the left ")",
inuicating that the subject was to piepaie the movement with theii left hanu, oi a
biacket that openeu to the iight "(", inuicating that the subject shoulu piepaie the
movement with theii iight hanu. Aftei the cue is piesenteu, theie is a Suu ms uelay
anu then an impeiative signal is piesenteu foi Suu ms inuicating whethei oi not the
subject shoulu move theii fingei.
The impeiative piesenteu was eithei "o)" oi "(o", wheie the uiiection that the
biacket is facing is the same as the uiiection that the cue was facing anu the "o"
signifieu that the subject shoulu execute the movement. In each block, a subset of
tiials piesenteu an "X" as the impeiative insteau of the open biacket anu "o." The "X"
inuicateu that the subject was not to make the piepaieu movement uuiing that tiial,
which was uone to encouiage the subjects to be caieful anu to ensuie that they weie
not simply executing the piepaieu action in iesponse to seeing the impeiative
signal. Aftei the impeiative was piesenteu, theie was an inteitiial inteival that was
ianuomly selecteu fiom Suuu-SSuu ms. 0n tiials wheie TNS was auministeieu ovei
iight N1, the TNS pulse was eithei auministeieu at the onset of the fixation oi 8uu
ms aftei the cue was piesenteu.


C46#&1 9
D
: A uiagiam uetailing the oiuei in which stimuli aie piesenteu on scieen, the onset of the
TNS pulse 8uu ms aftei the onset of the cue, anu the type of movement that is expecteu in iesponse
to each cue foi each type of task.

-&1@4234/5B
In 2u11, Timothy veistynen uesciibeu in his papei ";,$=-#0 >?("/%&) 2,4%"$%(5
@')%7"$,#"7 2-$-# A-#$,< B&$%C%$? 48#%(5 D(%/"(8"7 B&$%-()" that executing complex
tasks with the left hanu iesults in bilateial activity of motoi aieas along the
piecential gyius (veiystynen et al., 2u11).
4
It was obseiveu that the left piecential
piemotoi aiea may iegulate unintentional miiioiing of motoi commanus uuiing
unilateial movement anu that fluctuations in ipsilateial N1 activity weie positively
coiielateu with contialateial N1 activity. We woulu pieuict then that since

S
uieenhouse, Ian. "Pioactive inhibition anu iesponse execution uifficulty." Iviy Lab Neeting.
Febiuaiy 11, 2u14. Puf.
4
veistynen, Timothy, anu Richaiu B. Iviy. "Netwoik Bynamics Neuiating Ipsilateial Notoi Coitex
Activity uuiing 0nimanual Actions."9-8#("7 -: A-5(%$%C, ;,8#-)&%,(&, 2S.9 (2u11): 2468-48u. Piint.

veistynen founu that the NEPs eliciteu in the stationaiy non-selecteu hanu
incieaseu when moie complex movements weie maue with the selecteu hanu, that
the inhibitoiy piocesses pioposeu by Buque woulu be moie pievalent when a moie
complex action neeus to be executeu.
Foi Bylan's stuuy, both lateial inuex fingei movements anu pinky flexion aie
applieu at the same time, so we woulu expect two uiffeient iesults uepenuing on
whethei oi not competition iesolution oi impulse contiol is affecteu by inciease in
complexity. We woulu expect gieatei inhibitoiy iesponse in both the selecteu anu
non-selecteu iesponse options, anu woulu expect gieatei inhibition in the choice
conuition. If insteau incieasing complexity of task incieases impulse contiol, then
we woulu expect that only the selecteu iesponse shoulu be moie inhibiteu in both
the simple anu choice conuitions. In the 2x2x2 AN0vA analysis peifoimeu on the
mouel: inhibition ~ uifficulty (easy, haiu) * iesponse (selecteu, non-selecteu) *
conuition (choice, simple), Bylan founu that the inteiaction uifficulty*iesponse anu
iesponse*conuition weie statistically significant at the .uS level.

C46#&1 7
E


S
uieenhouse, Ian. "Pioactive inhibition anu iesponse execution uifficulty."

C46#&1 D
F


Foi the expeiiment that I am conuucting, I pieuict that this inhibitoiy iesponse
will be the same as the ones pieuicteu in Bylan's expeiiment, but will vaiy in
intensity baseu on how fai apait the movements of the inuex fingei aie maue. Foi
the puiposes of the expeiiment, the onset of the pinky movement aftei the inuex
fingei movement is not piecise, but about 2Su-4uu ms aftei the onset of the inuex
fingei movement.
Since the task is still moie complex than single fingei movement task examineu in
the 2u12 Buque papei, I woulu pieuict that the inhibitoiy iesponse fiom both
mechanisms aie still pievalent foi both inhibitoiy iesponse piocesses pioposeu, but
to a lessei uegiee than in Bylan's expeiiments with simultaneous execution of the
inuex fingei anu pinky movementsG



6
uieenhouse, Ian. "Pioactive inhibition anu iesponse execution uifficulty." Iviy Lab Neeting.
Febiuaiy 11, 2u14. Puf.

+1B#H3B
As of wiiting this summaiy, we have not yet completeu collecting the uata foi all
eighteen subjects intenueu foi this stuuy. So fai only pie-piocessing has been uone
on the ENu uata collecteu, wheie we invaliuate tiials wheie theie was noise in the
ENu signal that exceeueu 1uu v in the 2uu ms befoie the TNS pulse, oi tiials
wheie the subject maue a movement befoie the impeiative was piesenteu.

C#3#&1 -H%5B
0vei the summei, I intenu to complete collecting uata foi the iest of the subject in
the stuuy. Fiom theie I will pie-piocess the uata so that it is ieauy foi final analysis
in SPSS wheie AN0vA will be iun to ueteimine any significant inteiactions between
vaiiables in the mouel:
inhibition ~ uifficulty*iesponse*conuition

















+1)1&1521B

Buque, }., L. Labiuna, S. veiset, E. 0liviei, anu R. B. Iviy. "Bissociating the Role of Piefiontal anu
Piemotoi Coitices in Contiolling Inhibitoiy Nechanisms uuiing Notoi Piepaiation." 9-8#("7
-: ;,8#-)&%,(&, S2.S (2u12): 8u6-16. Piint.

Buque, }., B. Lew, R. Nazzocchio, E. 0liviei, anu R. B. Iviy. "Eviuence foi Two Concuiient Inhibitoiy
Nechanisms uuiing Response Piepaiation." }ouinal of Neuioscience Su.1u (2u1u): S79S-
8u2. Piint.

uieenhouse, Ian. "Pioactive inhibition anu iesponse execution uifficulty." Iviy Lab Neeting. Febiuaiy
11, 2u14. Puf.

veistynen, Timothy, anu Richaiu B. Iviy. "Netwoik Bynamics Neuiating Ipsilateial Notoi Coitex
Activity uuiing 0nimanual Actions."9-8#("7 -: A-5(%$%C, ;,8#-)&%,(&, 2S.9 (2u11): 2468-48u.
Piint.