CoActions Lab

When asked to define research, Nobel Prize in Physiology Dr. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi once said: ''Research is four things; Brains with which to think, eyes with which to see, machines with which to measure, and, fourth, money.'' Whilst all of these play a major role, machines and implements play key roles in sculpting (or hindering) the advancement of science. Let’s take for example the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics. Whom would have thought that one day, it would be possible to measure distances as small as 1/1000 of an atom diameter. The same applies in the field of Neuroscience, where the constant need of both spatial and temporal resolution invites researchers to use their creativity to both improve current techniques and create new ones to further our understanding of the human brain.

In our lab, we have developped and validated a double-coil method involving transcranial magnetic stimulation over the primary motor cortex of both hemispheres, allowing one to obtain motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) in muscles of both hands at a near-simultaneous time (1 ms delay). This technique is useful in many ways. Firstly, it allows scientists to acquire double the data in the same amount of time; this is critical as it gives researchers the opportunity to test more conditions than could be done with a regular single-coil method. Secondly, obtaining MEPs in both hands within the same trial allows to investigate the distinct impact of a task on corticospinal excitability of both the dominant and non-dominant sides in the exact same setting. This increases the signal to noise ratio in a significant way. Finally, with this design, one can also make direct comparisons between MEPs elicited in the two hands on a single-trial basis. New dependent measures can be obtained, for example, indexes reflecting the difference (or ratio) between corticospinal excitability of the two hands.