Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25563496›Full record

ReviewExperimental brain research2015

The uses and interpretations of the motor-evoked potential for understanding behaviour.

Sven Bestmann, John W Krakauer

Abstract readReview
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Experimental brain research, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 178 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
178citing papers in PubMed, 10 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

178 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  6. Brain Plasticity in Patients with Spinal Cord Injuries: A Systematic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024
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  15. Tracking the corticospinal responses to strength training.European journal of applied physiology · 2020
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  18. Pharmacological Manipulation of Cortical Inhibition in the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2018
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118 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Sven BestmannSobell Department for Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, UCL Institute of Neurology, University College London, 33 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK, s.bestmann@ucl.ac.uk.
John W Krakauer

Funding

Wellcome Trust 091593
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The motor-evoked potential (MEP) elicited in peripheral muscles by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over human motor cortex is one of the hallmark measures for non-invasive quantification of cortical and spinal excitability in cognitive and clinical neuroscience. In the present article, we distinguish three main uses for MEPs in studies of behaviour: for understanding execution and performance of actions, as markers of physiological change in the motor system, and as read-out of upstream processes influencing the motor system. Common to all three approaches is the assumption that different experimental manipulations act on the balance of excitatory and inhibitory pre-synaptic (inter)neurons at the stimulation site; this in turn contributes to levels of (post-synaptic) excitability of cortico-spinal output projections, which ultimately determines the size of MEPs recorded from peripheral muscles. We discuss the types of inference one can draw from human MEP measures given that the detailed physiological underpinnings of MEPs elicited by TMS are complex and remain incompletely understood. Awareness of the different mechanistic assumptions underlying different uses of MEPs can help inform both study design and interpretation of results obtained from human MEP studies of behaviour.

Indexed as

ElectroencephalographyElectromyographyEvoked Potentials, MotorHumansLearningMotor ActivityMotor CortexMuscle, SkeletalTranscranial Magnetic Stimulation

Identifiers

PMID25563496

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.