Visual spatial attention has opposite effects on bidirectional plasticity in the human motor cortex.
Long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) are key mechanisms of synaptic plasticity that are thought to act in concert to shape neural connections. Here we investigated the influence of visual spatial attention on LTP-like and LTD-like plasticity in the human motor cortex. Plasticity was induced using paired associative stimulation (PAS), which involves repeated pairing of peripheral nerve stimulation and transcranial magnetic stimulation to alter functional responses in the thumb area of the primary motor cortex. PAS-induced changes in cortical excitability were assessed using motor-evoked potentials. During plasticity induction, participants directed their attention to one of two visual stimulus streams located adjacent to each hand. When participants attended to visual stimuli located near the left thumb, which was targeted by PAS, LTP-like increases in excitability were significantly enhanced, and LTD-like decreases in excitability reduced, relative to when they attended instead to stimuli located near the right thumb. These differential effects on (bidirectional) LTP-like and LTD-like plasticity suggest that voluntary visual attention can exert an important influence on the functional organization of the motor cortex. Specifically, attention acts to both enhance the strengthening and suppress the weakening of neural connections representing events that fall within the focus of attention.
Queensland Brain Institute, School of Psychology, and School of Human Movement Studies, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia.
Marc R
MR
Kamke
Alexander E
AE
Ryan
Martin V
MV
Sale
Megan E J
ME
Campbell
Stephan
S
Riek
Timothy J
TJ
Carroll
Jason B
JB
Mattingley
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D019054:Evoked Potentials, Motor / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
long-term depression; long-term potentiation; paired associative stimulation; spatial attention; spike-timing-dependent plasticity; transcranial magnetic stimulation