The goal of our activity is to understand the functional role and substrates underlying plastic changes in the human central nervous system and develop novel therapeutic approaches for recovery of function. Most of our work has focused on the study of plastic changes in the human motor, somatosensory and visual systems in normal volunteers and patients with stroke. This year, we identified behavioral gains in tactile discriminative skills in one hand associated with deafferentation in the other hand. In relation to use- dependent plasticity in motor cortex, we discovered that it is possible to modulate plasticity in one body part representation by stimulation with TMS and by stimulation of adjacent body part representations. We also developed two strategies to enhance use-dependent plasticity: by administration of d-amphetamine and also by concomitant administration of transacranial magnetic stimulation. We discovered that noninvasive brain stimulation in the form of tDCS can contribute to neurorehabilitative efforts after stroke. A project is under way to evaluate application of noninvasive brain-computer interface to control hand motions after stroke. We have advanced in the understanding of the involvement of the intact hemisphere and nonprimary motor areas (particularly dorsal premotor cortex) in recovery of motor function after stroke. On the basis of this understanding, we are starting to design and test interventions to improve motor disability after human diseases.
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