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Figure 1 | Behavioral and Brain Functions

Figure 1

From: Tactile-dependant corticomotor facilitation is influenced by discrimination performance in seniors

Figure 1

Experimental set-up and schematic illustration of the TD paradigm. A. Experimental set-up showing the position of the index finger just before TMS pulse delivery during performance of the tactile discrimination (TD) task and the location of the recording surface electrodes. B. Schematic illustration of the task paradigm used to assess motor evoked potential (MEP) facilitation. In both the TD and non discrimination (ND) tasks, participants were trained to produce rhythmic finger to and fro movements in sync with the sound of a metronome at a frequency of 0.8 Hz for 5 s. In the TD condition, the finger moved over a surface containing two tactile symbols (half circle stickers forming either a "Boat" or a "Hat", 3.2 mm radius, 16 mm apart) and participants were asked to report the location of one of the specified symbols at the end of the trial. The ND task was identical in performance to the TD task except that the finger moved over a blank surface. In each trial, the TMS pulse was set to trigger at a time corresponding to the 3rd tick (3.75 s) in the trial when the index finger was moving towards abduction.

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