Sensorimotor Neuroplasticity Lab

Improving Motor Function After Stroke Using Precisely Timed Brain Stimulation

Stroke is a leading cause of motor disability worldwide, but despite intensive rehabilitation efforts, many stroke survivors have lasting upper extremity motor impairments. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) interventions could feasibly improve poststroke upper extremity motor function by inducing adaptive plasticity within descending pathways responsible for voluntary movement, but these interventions typically do not account for temporal variation in brain activity over time. In the lab, we deliver TMS in a way that directly accounts for this variation using real-time, electroencephalography (EEG)-triggered neurostimulation. This project is currently funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Understanding How Brain Oscillations Shape Human Motor Learning

Brain activity dynamically oscillates between excitatory and inhibitory states, but how these different brain states contribute to motor learning is not known. By measuring and manipulating brain activity during these different states using neurostimulation, we are characterizing the contribution of neural activity during these different brain states to different forms of human motor learning. To achieve this, we use real-time EEG-triggered TMS to probe motor neurophysiological markers during different phases of ongoing sensorimotor brain rhythms.