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Updated: Feb 2, 2026

Stimulating the Lip Motor Cortex with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Published on: June 14, 2014
Methylphenidate promotes the interaction between motor cortex facilitation and attention in healthy adults: A
Christoph Berger1, Juliane Müller-Godeffroy1, Ivo Marx1
1Department of Psychiatry, Neurology, Psychosomatics, Psychotherapy in Childhood and Adolescence, University Medical Center of Rostock, Rostock, Germany.
Objective:
This study investigated simultaneously the impact of methylphenidate (MPH) on the interaction of inhibitory and facilitative pathways in regions processing motor and cognitive functions.
Method:
Neural markers of attention and response control (event-related potentials) and motor cortical excitability (transcranial magnetic stimulation) and their pharmacological modulation by MPH were measured simultaneously in a sample of healthy adults (n = 31) performing a cued choice reaction test.
Results:
Methylphenidate modulated attentional gating and response preparation processes (increased contingent negative variation) and response inhibition (increased nogo P3). N1, cue- and go-P3 were not affected by MPH. Motor cortex facilitation, measured with long-interval cortical facilitation, was increased under MPH in the nogo condition and was positively correlated with the P3 amplitude.
Conclusion:
Methylphenidate seems particularly to enhance response preparation processes. The MPH-induced increased motor cortex facilitation during inhibitory task demands was accompanied by increased terminal response inhibition control, probably as a compensatory process.
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