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Updated: Sep 5, 2025

Measuring and Manipulating Functionally Specific Neural Pathways in the Human Motor System with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Published on: February 23, 2020
A computational model based on corticospinal functional MRI revealed asymmetrically organized motor corticospinal
Eiji Takasawa1,2, Mitsunari Abe3, Hirotaka Chikuda2
1Department of Advanced Neuroimaging, Integrative Brain Imaging Center, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo, Japan.
Abstract:
Evolution of the direct, monosynaptic connection from the primary motor cortex to the spinal cord parallels acquisition of hand dexterity and lateralization of hand preference. In non-human mammals, the indirect, multi-synaptic connections between the bilateral primary motor cortices and the spinal cord also participates in controlling dexterous hand movement. However, it remains unknown how the direct and indirect corticospinal pathways work in concert to control unilateral hand movement with lateralized preference in humans. Here we demonstrated the asymmetric functional organization of the two corticospinal networks, by combining network modelling and simultaneous functional magnetic resonance imaging techniques of the brain and the spinal cord. Moreover, we also found that the degree of the involvement of the two corticospinal networks paralleled lateralization of hand preference. The present results pointed to the functionally lateralized motor nervous system that underlies the behavioral asymmetry of handedness in humans.
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