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Updated: Oct 26, 2025
Stimulating the Lip Motor Cortex with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Published on: June 14, 2014
Motor and sensory cortical processing of neural oscillatory activities revealed by human swallowing using
Hiroaki Hashimoto1,2,3, Kazutaka Takahashi4, Seiji Kameda1
1Department of Neurological Diagnosis and Restoration, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Yamadaoka 2-2, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
Abstract:
Swallowing is attributed to the orchestration of motor output and sensory input. We hypothesized that swallowing can illustrate differences between motor and sensory neural processing. Eight epileptic participants fitted with intracranial electrodes over the orofacial cortex were asked to swallow a water bolus. Mouth opening and swallowing were treated as motor tasks, whereas water injection was treated as a sensory task. Phase-amplitude coupling between lower-frequency and high γ (HG) bands (75-150 Hz) was investigated. An α (10-16 Hz)-HG coupling appeared before motor-related HG power increases (burst), and a θ (5-9 Hz)-HG coupling appeared during sensory-related HG bursts. The peaks of motor-related coupling were 0.6-0.7 s earlier than that of HG power. The motor-related HG was modulated at the trough of the α oscillation, and the sensory-related HG amplitude was modulated at the peak of the θ oscillation. These contrasting results can help to elucidate the brain's sensory motor functions.
