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The brain can control an incredible repertoire of human motor actions spanning from locomotion to complex fine-motor actions of the hand. This motor control is likely based on vast feedback from proprioceptors in the muscles, tendons and joints, enabling “the movement sense of the body”. We aim to use our novel proprioceptive stimulators of the fingers to (1) map their cortical proprioceptive representations in sub-mm detail using functional neuroimaging of the brain (7T-fMRI), and (2) examine the effect of the sensory proprioceptive feedback from the body to the brain on the brain’s motor output to the muscles using novel multi-locus magnetic stimulation of the brain (mTMS). For the first time, using mTMS, we can stimulate nearby cortical regions even with sub-ms intervals using fast electrical targeting. ProMap-project will provide insights into functional anatomy of the sensorimotor brain and interplay between the movement sense and motor control of the brain, i.e., causal body-brain interactions.

7T-fMRI research and recordings are done in close collaboration with Prof. Peter Bandettini in National Institute of Mental Health at Bethesda (USA) and Prof. Jyrki Ahveninen in Harvard Medical School at Boston (USA).