The influence of correlated afferent input on motor cortical representations in humans

Animal models reveal that correlated afferent inputs are a powerful driver of sensorimotor cortex reorganisation. Recently we developed a stimulation paradigm, which evokes convergent afferent input from two hand muscles and induces reorganisation within human motor cortex. Here we investigated whether this reorganisation is characterised by expansion and greater overlap of muscle representation zones, as reported in animal models. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation, we mapped the motor representation of the right first dorsal interosseous (FDI), abductor digiti minimi (ADM) and abductor pollicis brevis (APB) in 24 healthy subjects before and after 1 h of (1) associative stimulation to FDI and ADM motor points, (2) associative stimulation to digits II and V (3) a control condition employing non-correlated stimulation of FDI and ADM motor points. Motor point associative stimulation induced a significant increase in the number of active sites in all three muscles and volume in FDI and ADM. Additionally, the centre of gravity of the FDI and ADM maps shifted closer together. Similar changes were not observed following digital associative stimulation or motor point non-associative stimulation. These novel findings provide evidence that convergent input induces reorganisation of the human motor cortex characterised by expansion and greater overlap of representational zones.