iTBS on RDLPFC improves performance of motor imagery: a brain-computer interface study combining EEG and fNIRS.
Jialin Chen, Quan Liu, Gengbin Chen and 7 others
PMID 40745321WHAT IT FOUND
One session of brain stimulation over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex improved healthy adults' control of a motor-imagery brain-computer interface.
It did not make imagined movements more vivid or change motor pathway excitability.
Key findings
01The movement state percentage (BCI control score) was 69.62% after iTBS and 60.38% after sham, a significant difference (p = 0.032).
02iTBS did not significantly change motor imagery vividness or corticospinal excitability compared with sham.
03fNIRS showed higher oxygenated blood response in the right premotor and supplementary motor area after iTBS.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study was done in healthy right-handed adults, so it does not show what happens in stroke or spinal cord injury patients. The sample was small (n = 52), and three EEG datasets were excluded for artefacts; the paper does not state the final number analysed. The positive outcomes were acute BCI control and brain signal changes, not clinical movement, function or recovery. Motor imagery vividness and corticospinal excitability showed no significant group differences, so the stimulation did not clearly improve imagery ability or direct motor pathway excitability. The BCI task used swimming imagery and a fixed difficulty level, which may not match typical rehabilitation motor imagery tasks.
Declared interests
The supplied text lists funding from Guangzhou First People’s Hospital and no author conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the improved BCI control score as evidence that iTBS makes imagined movements more vivid or improves movement after stroke. The participants were healthy, the effect was on a BCI control score, and imagery vividness and corticospinal excitability showed no significant group differences.