Plasticity Induced by Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation in Bilateral Motor Cortices Is Not Altered in Older Adults

Figure 2

Experimental timeline. The timeline of measures is shown for the left (stimulated) hemisphere in the upper panel (a) and the right (unstimulated) hemisphere in the lower panel (b). Cortical excitability was probed before and after intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) using resting motor threshold (rMT) and motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitude. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) targeted the representation in motor cortex of the right and left abductor pollicis brevis muscle. iTBS targeted the left (i.e., “stimulated”) hemisphere only. The rMT2 measure was used to establish stimulation intensity for iTBS (see Section 2.3).