On-line flexibility of the cognitive tuning of corticospinal excitability: a TMS study in human gait

Human subjects have been found to be able to cognitively prepare themselves to resist to a TMS-induced central perturbation by selectively modulating the corticospinal excitability (CS). The aim of this study was to investigate the on-line adaptability of this cognitive tuning of CS excitability during human gait. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was used both as a central perturbation evoking a movement and as a tool for quantifying the CS excitability before the movement was evoked. TMS was applied at mid-stance (evoking additional hip extension) or at the beginning of the swing (evoking hip flexion) with a random phase, thus evoking unpredictable flexion or extension movement. This was compared to a condition of fixed phase, in which the subjects knew in advance the direction of the evoked movement. In both conditions, we compared the amplitude of the TMS-evoked movement and the motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) of the muscles acting at the hip joint (RF/BF) according to two opposite instructions, either to cognitively prepare to "let go", or to cognitively prepare to "compensate" for the evoked movements. The results showed that the subjects were able to compensate for random TMS-evoked movements, but with a lower performance level in comparison to the fixed TMS-evoked movements. When they succeeded in the random-phase condition, the subjects used the same preparation strategy as in the fixed-phase condition; preparing to compensate resulted in a selective increase in the CS excitability to those muscles which would be involved in counteracting the possible central perturbation. This requires continuous change in the tuning of CS excitability within the stride and thus reveals the high flexibility of the cognitive tuning of CS excitability during gait.