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Neuronal Network Analysis pp 435–457Cite as

Combining Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation with Electroencephalography to Study Human Cortical Excitability and Effective Connectivity

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Part of the book series: Neuromethods ((NM,volume 67))

Abstract

Excitability and effective connectivity are key parameters of cortical circuits’ functioning. Moreover, alterations of these parameters have been suggested to underlie neurologic and psychiatric conditions. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) combined with neuronavigation systems, electroencephalography (EEG), and reliable reconstruction of cortical generators allows to directly measure cortical excitability and effective connectivity, noninvasively and with the appropriate temporal resolution (milliseconds). Here, the main technical challenges that have to be dealt with to efficiently combine navigated TMS with EEG on human subjects and a step-by-step experimental procedure to perform a successful TMS/EEG measurement are presented. Finally, ad hoc analytical tools to extract indices of excitability and effective connectivity from TMS/EEG data are described together with examples of their application.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from European Grant Strep ICT-2007-224328 “Predict AD” (to M. M.), MIUR PRIN program 2008, and University of Milan PUR program 2009 (to M.R. and M.M.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Sciences “Luigi Sacco”, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Mario Rosanova, Silvia Casarotto, Andrea Pigorini, Paola Canali, Adenauer G. Casali & Marcello Massimini

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  1. Mario Rosanova
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  2. Silvia Casarotto
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  3. Andrea Pigorini
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  4. Paola Canali
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  5. Adenauer G. Casali
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  6. Marcello Massimini
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Dpt. Neuroscience & Brain Technologies, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Via Morego 30, Genova, 16163, Italy

    Tommaso Fellin

  2. , Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Fruit St. 55, Boston, 02114, Massachusetts, USA

    Michael Halassa

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Rosanova, M., Casarotto, S., Pigorini, A., Canali, P., Casali, A.G., Massimini, M. (2011). Combining Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation with Electroencephalography to Study Human Cortical Excitability and Effective Connectivity. In: Fellin, T., Halassa, M. (eds) Neuronal Network Analysis. Neuromethods, vol 67. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/7657_2011_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/7657_2011_15

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-61779-632-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-61779-633-3

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