Study of Brain Control of Movement
Study of Brain Control of Movement
This study will use transcranial magnetic stimulation to examine how the brain controls
 movement by sending messages to the spinal cord and muscles and what goes wrong with this
 process in disease. Normal healthy volunteers between the ages of 18 and 65 years may be
 eligible to participate.

 In transcranial magnetic stimulation, an insulated wire coil is placed on the subject's scalp
 or skin. Brief electrical currents are passed through the coil, creating magnetic pulses that
 stimulate the brain. During the stimulation, participants will be asked to tense certain
 muscles slightly or perform other simple actions. The electrical activity of the muscle will
 be recorded on a computer through electrodes applied to the skin over the muscle. In most
 cases, the study will last less than 3 hours.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of voluntary inhibition of
 movement, using either negative motor imagery or Go/NoGo reaction task, on cortical
 inhibitory mechanisms. Intracortical inhibition (ICI) and silent period (SP) are two major
 cortical inhibitory mechanisms demonstrated by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).
 Alterations in these inhibitory mechanisms have been extensively studied in various
 situations, but the influence of voluntary inhibition has not been elucidated yet. In normal
 volunteers, therefore, we plan to determine if voluntary inhibition of movement influences
 these cortical inhibitory mechanisms. The primary outcome measures would be any changes in
 motor evoked potential (MEP) size and intracortical inhibition (ICI) parameters.
Volunteers who are greater than or equal to 18 years old.

 Subjects must not have any medico-surgical illness.

 Subjects must not have neurological illness.

 Subjects must not have psychiatric illness.

 Subjects must not be taking any medication with potential

 influence on nervous system function.

 Subjects must not have a pacemaker.

 Subjects must not have an implanted medical pump.

 Subjects must not have a metal plate or a metal object in the skull or eye.

 Subjects must not have a history of seizure disorder.