Journal of neurophysiology最新文献

{"title":"Odor encoding by fine-timescale spike synchronization patterns in the olfactory bulb.","authors":"Jesse C Werth, Matthew Einhorn, Thomas A Cleland","doi":"10.1152/jn.00340.2024","DOIUrl":"10.1152/jn.00340.2024","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In the mammalian olfactory bulb (OB), gamma oscillations in the local field potential are generated endogenously during odor sampling. Such oscillations arise from dynamical systems that generate organized periodic behavior in neural circuits and correspond to spike timing constraints at millisecond timescales. Although the cellular and network mechanisms of gamma oscillogenesis in the OB are reasonably well established, it remains unclear how these fine-timescale dynamics serve to represent odors. Are patterns of spike synchronization on the gamma timescale replicable and odor-specific? Does the transformation to a spike-timing metric embed additional signal processing computations? To address these questions, we used OB slice recordings to examine the spike timing dynamics evoked by \"fictive odorants\" generated via spatiotemporally patterned optogenetic stimulation of olfactory sensory neuron axonal arbors. We found that a small proportion of mitral/tufted cells phase-lock strongly to the fast oscillations evoked by fictive odorants and exhibit tightly coupled spike-spike synchrony on the gamma timescale. Moreover, the specific population of synchronized neurons corresponded to the \"quality,\" but not the \"concentration\" (intensity), of the fictive odorant presented, and was conserved across multiple presentations of the same fictive odorant. Given the established selectivity of piriform cortical pyramidal neurons for inputs synchronized on this timescale, we conclude that spike synchronization on a milliseconds timescale is a metric by which the OB encodes and exports afferent odor information in a concentration-invariant manner. As a corollary, mitral/tufted cell spikes that are not organized in time are unlikely to contribute meaningfully to the ensemble odor representation.<b>NEW & NOTEWORTHY</b> Neurophysiological activity patterns often are interpreted as simple mean spike rates, without consideration of the intrinsic representational timescales established by the dynamical systems of the brain. We here show that principal neuron spike timing in the olfactory bulb circuit is regulated by such fast internal network dynamics, and that these tightly synchronized spikes encode sensory information into a form interpretable by downstream target neurons.</p>","PeriodicalId":16563,"journal":{"name":"Journal of neurophysiology","volume":" ","pages":"274-286"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12262005/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144293947","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Increased coactivation during clinical tests of spasticity is associated with increased coactivation during reactive standing balance control in cerebral palsy.","authors":"Jente Willaert, Lena H Ting, Anja Van Campenhout, Kaat Desloovere, Friedl De Groote","doi":"10.1152/jn.00568.2024","DOIUrl":"10.1152/jn.00568.2024","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Joint hyper-resistance is a common symptom in cerebral palsy (CP). It is assessed by rotating the joint of a relaxed patient. Joint rotations also occur when perturbing functional movements. Therefore, joint hyper-resistance might contribute to reactive balance impairments in CP. Our aim was to investigate relationships between altered muscle responses to isolated joint rotations and perturbations of standing balance in children with CP. Twenty children with CP and 20 typically developing children participated in the study. During an instrumented spasticity assessment, the ankle was rotated as fast as possible from maximal plantarflexion toward maximal dorsiflexion. Standing balance was perturbed by backward support-surface translations and toe-up support-surface rotations. Gastrocnemius, soleus, and tibialis anterior electromyography were measured. We evaluated alterations in reciprocal pathways by plantarflexor-dorsiflexor coactivation and the neural response to stretch by average muscle activity. We evaluated the relation between muscle responses to ankle rotation and balance perturbations using linear mixed models. Coactivation during isolated joint rotations and perturbations of standing balance was correlated in CP but not in typically developing children. The neural response to stretch during isolated joint rotations and balance perturbations was not correlated. Our results suggest that increased coactivation, possibly due to reduced reciprocal inhibition, during isolated joint rotations might be a predictor of altered reactive balance control strategies in CP.<b>NEW & NOTEWORTHY</b> It has been challenging to relate altered muscle coordination during functional movements to altered muscle responses to isolated joint rotations in children with cerebral palsy. We performed more comprehensive assessments by not only considering mean muscle activity but also agonist-antagonist coactivation. Our results indicate that muscle coactivation during balance control might partly result from altered reciprocal pathways, for example, reduced reciprocal inhibition, in the spinal cord. These insights could improve clinical assessments of balance impairments.</p>","PeriodicalId":16563,"journal":{"name":"Journal of neurophysiology","volume":" ","pages":"118-127"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12235014/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144275081","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Aging alters face expressions processing and recognition: insights on possible neural mechanisms.","authors":"Francesca Ginatempo, Nicola Loi, Mohammed Zeroual, Marinella Iole Cadoni, Mauro Fadda, Andrea Lagorio, Franca Deriu","doi":"10.1152/jn.00237.2024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00237.2024","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The present work investigated how aging influences the different stages of face expressions processing: fixation patterns, early perception, face motor response and recognition. Thirty-four participants (17 young, 17 senior) were subjected to i) recording of fixation patterns, ii) recording of the P100 and the N170 components of event-related potentials, iii) excitability of short intracortical inhibition (SICI) and intracortical facilitation (ICF) of the face primary motor cortex (face M1) , and iv) recognition task during the passive viewing of neutral, happy and sad faces expressions. senior subjects mostly looked at the mouth, had reduced pupil size and delayed N170 latency, regardless of expression, compared to young ones; and a reduced P100 amplitude when viewing sad faces. Senior subjects' excitability of face M1 (was enhanced compared to the young group; both groups had a reduced SICI when viewing happy faces, but only senior subjects exhibited reduced SICI for sad faces. Young subjects had better recognition accuracy and response times than senior ones, particularly for sad expressions. When viewing sad expressions, SICI was negatively correlated with pupil size and recognition accuracy, and positively correlated with N170 latency. Data suggested that aging reduces visual attention for sad faces which appears to be connected to an increased excitability of face M1, which in turn is linked to their impaired recognition skills, especially when processing negative face expressions. These findings prove new insights in the comprehension of how aging affects cognitive functions and the process of face expressions recognition.</p>","PeriodicalId":16563,"journal":{"name":"Journal of neurophysiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144540583","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Transcutaneous stimulation of the cervical spinal cord facilitates motoneuron firing and improves hand-motor function after spinal cord injury.","authors":"Nikhil Verma, Jeonghoon Oh, Ernesto Bedoy, Nikole Chetty, Alexander G Steele, Seo Jeong Park, Jaime R Guerrero, Amir H Faraji, Douglas Weber, Dimitry G Sayenko","doi":"10.1152/jn.00422.2024","DOIUrl":"10.1152/jn.00422.2024","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Spinal cord injury (SCI) interrupts signal transmission between the brain and muscles, often leading to permanent motor impairments. Improving hand function is the highest priority for people with tetraplegia. Electrically engaging spinal circuits using spinal cord stimulation has been demonstrated to improve hand function in people with paralysis post-SCI. Here, we used a noninvasive intervention, transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation (tSCS), to facilitate voluntary hand function after SCI. We used a multi-cathode tSCS array to study recruitment patterns across various upper-limb muscles, including forearm subcompartments, in five neurologically intact (NI) participants and five participants with SCI. Our primary objectives was to use tSCS over the cervical spinal cord to delineate the stimulation-evoked response patterns and assess the effects of tSCS on hand motor function in both groups. We demonstrated that tonic tSCS targeting hand muscles enhanced muscle activity (by up to 21%), increased grip strength (by up to 55%), and improved activation patterns in the participants with SCI. Furthermore, using high-density electromyography-based extraction of motor unit activity, we provided experimental evidence that tSCS can transsynaptically modulate the activity of individual motor units, enabling integration of supraspinal inputs within these networks. Our results indicate that targeted tSCS can immediately improve hand motor function after SCI and suggest potential mechanisms for its facilitatory effects. Similar facilitation of motor unit activity, enhanced muscle activation (up to 65%), and, in some cases, grip strength increases of up to 66%, were also observed in NI participants, indicating that cervical tSCS engages spinal sensorimotor circuits consistently across populations.<b>NEW & NOTEWORTHY</b> A multicathode transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation (tSCS) array, combined with high-density electromyography (HDEMG) was used to precisely characterize selectivity in recruitment of motor pools in the cervical spinal cord. Through surface HDEMG-based motor unit extraction, the study demonstrated that tonic, subthreshold tSCS transiently facilitates motor unit firing, via recruitment of sensory afferents, resulting in enhanced muscle output, grip strength, and task-specific muscle activation patterns in individuals with tetraplegia post-SCI.</p>","PeriodicalId":16563,"journal":{"name":"Journal of neurophysiology","volume":" ","pages":"128-143"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144266380","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Parvalbumin neurons and cortical coding of dynamic stimuli: a network model.","authors":"Isaac Paul Boyd, Jian Carlo Nocon, Howard Gritton, Xue Han, Kamal Sen","doi":"10.1152/jn.00283.2024","DOIUrl":"10.1152/jn.00283.2024","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cortical circuits feature both excitatory and inhibitory cells that underlie the encoding of dynamic sensory stimuli, e.g., speech, music, odors, and natural scenes. Although previous studies have shown that inhibition plays an important role in shaping the neural code, how excitatory and inhibitory cells coordinate to enhance encoding of temporally dynamic stimuli is not fully understood. Recent experimental recordings in the mouse auditory cortex have shown that optogenetic suppression of parvalbumin neurons results in a decrease of neural discriminability of dynamic stimuli. Here, we present a multilayer model of a cortical circuit that mechanistically explains these results. The model is based on parvalbumin neurons that respond to both stimulus onsets and offsets, as observed experimentally, and incorporates characteristic short-term synaptic plasticity profiles of excitatory and parvalbumin neurons. We also explore different network architectures consistent with experimental results. The model reveals that tuning the relative strengths of onset and offset inputs to parvalbumin neurons and network parameters generates different regimes of coding dominated by rapid firing rate modulations or spike timing. Moreover, the model replicates the experimentally observed reduction in neural discrimination performance during optogenetic suppression of parvalbumin neurons. These results suggest that distinct onset and offset inputs to parvalbumin neurons enhance cortical discriminability of dynamic stimuli by encoding distinct temporal features, enhancing temporal coding, and reducing cortical noise.<b>NEW & NOTEWORTHY</b> Here, we propose a model for the mechanisms that underlie neuron responses in the auditory cortex. This study focuses on a cortical circuit involving excitatory and inhibitory (parvalbumin) neurons. Using physiologically relevant parameters in the proposed model network, we show that we can recreate observed results in live studies.</p>","PeriodicalId":16563,"journal":{"name":"Journal of neurophysiology","volume":" ","pages":"53-66"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144002645","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity in children: implications for emotion regulation and dyadic approaches.","authors":"Minella Aghajani, Amber Efthemiou, Emily Manasian","doi":"10.1152/jn.00193.2025","DOIUrl":"10.1152/jn.00193.2025","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) has been implicated in emotional responding in children and is susceptible to the influences of contextual factors. There are mixed findings regarding adaptive changes in RSA reactivity in response to stressors and challenges. This review identifies contextual factors that contribute to the variation in adaptive responses to emotional stressors and provides an outlet for the utility of dyadic approaches in understanding these patterns in children.</p>","PeriodicalId":16563,"journal":{"name":"Journal of neurophysiology","volume":" ","pages":"46-49"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144258295","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Systemic calcitonin gene-related peptide modifies auditory and vestibular end organ electrical potentials, and increases sensory hypersensitivities.","authors":"Shafaqat M Rahman, Stefanie Faucher, Raajan Jonnala, Joseph C Holt, Choongheon Lee, Anne E Luebke","doi":"10.1152/jn.00226.2024","DOIUrl":"10.1152/jn.00226.2024","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Migraine is a severe and chronic neurological disorder that affects ∼18% of people worldwide, the majority being female (3:1). It is characterized by recurrent, debilitating headaches and heightened sensory sensitivities. People with migraine may develop vestibular migraine (VM), characterized by a heightened motion sensitivity and preponderance for spontaneous vertigo attacks and balance problems such as postural instability. Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is implicated in migraine and is believed to act on brain meninges or in subcortical central nervous system (CNS) structures, and CGRP-based antagonists have shown efficacy for migraine treatment. CGRP also signals at efferent synapses of the cochlea and vestibular end organs, but it is unclear whether exogenous CGRP can modulate inner ear function at the end organ level and cause heightened behavioral responses consistent with VM. We tested whether intraperitoneally (ip) delivered CGRP to wild-type mice can modulate end-organ potentials to sound [via auditory brainstem responses (ABRs)] and jerk stimuli [via vestibular sensory evoked potentials (VsEPs)]. We also assessed behavioral measures of phonophobia [acoustic startle reflex (ASR)] and static imbalance [postural sway-center of pressure (CoP)] after intraperitoneal CGRP, and observed that female mice exhibited heightened sensitivities to intraperitoneal CGRP in all assays. Male mice showed similar auditory sensitivity and end-organ effects to CGRP, but systemic CGRP did not modify male postural sway as it did in females. In conclusion, we show that intraperitoneally delivered CGRP affects ABRs and VsEPs and elicits behaviors suggestive of auditory hypersensitivity and postural instability in mice related to the phonophobia and postural instability seen in patients with VM.<b>NEW & NOTEWORTHY</b> Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) has been implicated in migraine, and CGRP-based therapeutics have shown efficacy in the treatment of migraine headaches. CGRP is also present in efferent synapses of the inner ear, so we questioned whether increases in systemic CGRP can act directly on inner ear end organs. In this study, we determined systemic CGRP changes auditory (ABR) and vestibular (VsEP) endorgan potentials and produces migraine behaviors similar to phonophobia and postural control deficits.</p>","PeriodicalId":16563,"journal":{"name":"Journal of neurophysiology","volume":" ","pages":"107-117"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144150790","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Risk optimization during ongoing movement: insights from movement and gaze behavior in throwing.","authors":"Stephan Zahno, Damian Beck, Ralf Kredel, André Klostermann, Ernst-Joachim Hossner","doi":"10.1152/jn.00606.2024","DOIUrl":"10.1152/jn.00606.2024","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Handling motor noise is fundamental to successful sensorimotor behavior, especially in high-risk situations. Research using finger-pointing tasks shows that humans account for motor noise and costs of potential outcomes in movement planning. However, does this mechanism generalize to more complex movement tasks? Here, we investigate sensorimotor behavior under risk in a virtual reality throwing task across three experiments with 20 participants each. Their task was to throw balls at a target circle, partially overlapped by a penalty circle. In the experiments, penalty magnitude and the distance between the circles were manipulated. We measured the location of their final gaze fixation before movement-as an indicator of their planned aiming point-and the ball's impact location. Without penalty, the final gaze fixation and the ball's impact location were both centered on the target. In the penalty condition, the location of the participants' final gaze fixations and the ball's impact shifted away from the penalty circle, with larger shifts for higher penalties and smaller distances. Interestingly, the shifts in the ball's impact locations were not only larger (\"less risk seeking\") but also closer to the statistically optimal (expected gain-maximizing) location compared with the fixated aim points. Movement trajectory analyses show that, in penalty conditions, the shifts away from the penalty zone increased until the final phases of the movement. Based on these results, we propose the hypothesis that risk evaluation is not completed in a pre-movement planning phase but is further optimized during movement execution.<b>NEW & NOTEWORTHY</b> We extend the study of sensorimotor behavior under risk from simple finger-pointing movements (Trommershäuser et al., Trends Cogn Sci 12: 291-297, 2008) to a complex throwing task in virtual reality. Our results suggest that, in complex sensorimotor behavior, risk evaluation of potential movements is not confined to a cognitive planning phase before movement but is optimized in action, with the motor system continuously biasing competing action options toward regions of higher expected rewards.</p>","PeriodicalId":16563,"journal":{"name":"Journal of neurophysiology","volume":" ","pages":"94-106"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144248363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Simulations reveal that beta burst detection may inappropriately characterize the beta band.","authors":"Zachary D Langford, Charles R E Wilson","doi":"10.1152/jn.00125.2024","DOIUrl":"10.1152/jn.00125.2024","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In neurophysiological research, the traditional view of beta band activity as sustained oscillations is being reinterpreted as transient bursts. Bursts are characterized by a distinct wavelet shape, high amplitude, and, most importantly, brief temporal occurrence. The primary method for their detection relies on a threshold-based analysis of spectral power, and this presents two fundamental issues. First, the threshold selection is effectively arbitrary, being influenced by both temporally proximal and distal factors in the signal. Second, the method necessarily detects temporal events; as such it is susceptible to misidentifying sustained signals as transient bursts. To address these issues, this study systematically explores burst detection through simulations, shedding light on the method's robustness across various scenarios. Although the method is effective in detecting transients in numerous cases, it can be overly sensitive, leading to spurious detections. Moreover, when applied to simulations featuring exclusively sustained events, the method frequently yields events exhibiting characteristics consistent with a transient burst interpretation. By simulating an average difference in power between experimental conditions, we illustrate how apparent burst rate differences between conditions can emerge even in the absence of actual burst rate disparities and even in the absence of bursts. This capacity to produce misleading outcomes challenges the reinterpretation of sustained beta oscillations as transient bursts and prompts a critical reassessment of the existing literature.<b>NEW & NOTEWORTHY</b> Neurophysiological research is experiencing a transformative shift in understanding beta band activity, moving away from the notion of sustained oscillations toward recognizing the significance of transient bursts. Here, we show how the methods to detect such bursts are prone to spurious detections and can blur the distinction between sustained signals and transient bursts. Furthermore, in realistic scenarios, these methods can produce apparent behavioral associations where no such association exists.</p>","PeriodicalId":16563,"journal":{"name":"Journal of neurophysiology","volume":" ","pages":"10-19"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144127910","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Motor sequence learning elicits mu peak-specific corticospinal plasticity.","authors":"Tharan Suresh, Fumiaki Iwane, Minsu Zhang, Margaret McElmurry, Muskan Manesiya, Michael V Freedberg, Sara J Hussain","doi":"10.1152/jn.00579.2024","DOIUrl":"10.1152/jn.00579.2024","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Motor cortical (M1) transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) interventions increase corticospinal output and improve motor learning when delivered during sensorimotor mu rhythm trough but not peak phases, suggesting that the mechanisms supporting motor learning may be most active during mu trough phases. Based on these findings, we predicted that motor sequence learning-related corticospinal plasticity would be most evident when measured during mu trough phases. Healthy adults were assigned to either a sequence or no-sequence group. Participants in the sequence group practiced the implicit serial reaction time task (SRTT), which contained an embedded, repeating 12-item sequence. Participants in the no-sequence group practiced a version of the SRTT that contained no sequence. We measured mu phase-independent and mu phase-dependent MEP amplitudes using EEG-informed single-pulse TMS before, immediately after, and 30 min after the SRTT in both groups. All participants performed a retention test 1 h after SRTT acquisition. In both groups, mu phase-independent MEP amplitudes increased following SRTT acquisition, but the pattern of mu phase-dependent MEP amplitude changes after SRTT acquisition differed between groups. Relative to the no-sequence group, the sequence group showed greater peak-specific MEP amplitude increases 30 min after SRTT acquisition. Furthermore, the magnitude of these peak-specific MEP amplitude increases was negatively associated with the magnitude of sequence learning. Contrary to our original hypothesis, results revealed that motor sequence learning elicits peak-specific corticospinal plasticity. Findings provide first direct evidence that motor sequence learning recruits mu phase-dependent neurophysiological processes in the human brain.<b>NEW & NOTEWORTHY</b> Recent work suggests that motor learning's neural mechanisms may be most active during specific sensorimotor mu rhythm phases. If so, motor sequence learning-induced corticospinal plasticity should be more evident during some mu phases than others. Our results show that motor sequence learning elicits corticospinal plasticity that is most prominent during mu peak phases. Furthermore, this peak-specific plasticity correlates with learning. Findings provide first evidence that motor learning elicits mu phase-dependent plasticity in the human brain.</p>","PeriodicalId":16563,"journal":{"name":"Journal of neurophysiology","volume":" ","pages":"250-263"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144275082","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}