02519nas a2200277   4500008004100000022001400041245009000055210006900145260001200214490000700226520169200233653003401925653001801959653001301977653002501990653003002015100001702045700001502062700001502077700001302092700001702105700001502122700002102137700001802158856006502176       2018                        eng d  a1662-453X00aEffects of Sensorimotor Rhythm Modulation on the Human Flexor Carpi Radialis H-Reflex0 aEffects of Sensorimotor Rhythm Modulation on the Human Flexor Ca  c07/20180 v123 aPeople can learn over training sessions to increase or decrease sensorimotor rhythms (SMRs) in the electroencephalogram (EEG). Activity-dependent brain plasticity is thought to guide spinal plasticity during motor skill learning; thus, SMR training may affect spinal reflexes and thereby influence motor control. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the effects of learned mu (8–13 Hz) SMR modulation on the flexor carpi radialis (FCR) H-reflex in 6 subjects with no known neurological conditions and 2 subjects with chronic incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI). All subjects had learned and practiced over more than 10 < 30-min training sessions to increase (SMR-up trials) and decrease (SMR-down trials) mu-rhythm amplitude over the hand/arm area of left sensorimotor cortex with ≥80% accuracy. Right FCR H-reflexes were elicited at random times during SMR-up and SMR-down trials, and in between trials. SMR modulation affected H-reflex size. In all the neurologically normal subjects, the H-reflex was significantly larger [116% ± 6 (mean ± SE)] during SMR-up trials than between trials, and significantly smaller (92% ± 1) during SMR-down trials than between trials (p < 0.05 for both, paired t-test). One subject with SCI showed similar H-reflex size dependence (high for SMR-up trials, low for SMR-down trials): the other subject with SCI showed no dependence. These results support the hypothesis that SMR modulation has predictable effects on spinal reflex excitability in people who are neurologically normal; they also suggest that it might be used to enhance therapies that seek to improve functional recovery in some individuals with SCI or other CNS disorders.

10abrain-computer interface (BC)10aEEG mu-rhythm10aH-Reflex10aSpinal Cord Injuries10atask-dependent adaptation1 aThompson, AK1 aCarruth, H1 aHaywood, R1 aHill, NJ1 aSarnacki, WA1 aMcCane, LM1 aWolpaw, Jonathan1 aMcFarland, DJ  uhttps://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnins.2018.00505