Schedule of Events | Symposia

Graduate Student Award Winner

Causal evidence for the role of cognitive control networks in motor performance in Parkinson’s Disease: a combined fMRI-TMS approach

Poster Session A - Saturday, March 29, 2025, 3:00 – 5:00 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Rupsha Panda¹ (rupsha@umich.edu), James Brissenden¹, Ritika Tiwari¹, Michael Vesia², Roger Albin³, Taraz Lee¹; ¹University of Michigan, Department Psychology, ²University of Michigan, Department of Kinesiology, ³University of Michigan, Department of Neurology

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder marked by cognitive and motor deficits. Recent research implicates an Attention-Motor Interface (AMI) between cognitive control networks, basal ganglia, and motor networks as a key contributor to motor deficits in PD. However, human studies linking AMI disruption to motor dysfunction remain correlational. This study employs transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the causal role of AMI nodes in motor impairment across multiple sessions. In all sessions, motor performance was assessed while in the scanner using a precision force-tracking task that has been shown to correlate with gait impairment. In half of the force-tracking blocks, participants were required to simultaneously perform a cognitively demanding 2-back working memory task to tax attentional systems. Following an initial baseline fMRI session, participants subsequently underwent three separate fMRI-TMS sessions using theta burst stimulation (TBS) to transiently increase and reduce excitability in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a key AMI node in the fronto-parietal control network (FPN). Excitatory stimulation over DLPFC led to a significant improvement in motor performance relative to both control stimulation and inhibitory stimulation. Preliminary fMRI results further suggest that these performance improvements coincide with increased activity locally at DLPFC, but also in other frontal regions more typically associated with the cingulo-opercular control network (CON). These findings suggest a causal role for cognitive control networks in the underlying motor dysfunction in PD and highlight the AMI as a potential therapeutic target.

Topic Area: EXECUTIVE PROCESSES: Other