Since 1994, a relevant part of our research work has been devoted to investigate

unimanual motor control in healthy volunteers and neurological patients by

transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).

Namely, in patients with congenital mirror movements (MM) not associated to other

relevant motor abnormalities, we have contributed to show the coexistence of separate

crossed and uncrossed fast-conducting corticospinal projections and bilateral motor

output from both motor primary cortices (M1) during intended unimanual movements.

In contrast, in patients with Parkinson's disease, acquired MM are explained by motor

output along strictly crossed corticospinal projections from the M1 ipsilateral to the

voluntary movement: a sort of enhancement of physiological mirroring.

Most of these data are resumed in the following review:

Invited review

Neurophysiology of unimanual motor control and mirror movements

M. Cincotta a,*, U. Ziemann b

www.elsevier.com/locate/clinph

Clinical Neurophysiology 119 (2008) 744–762

Later, we had the opportunity to cooperate to some studies conducted at the

Salpêtrière: Paris, aiming to investigate the genetic and the correlation between

genetic and neurophysiological patterns in congenital MM. Below, some

representative papers:

DOI 10.1212/WNL.0b013e318207b1e0 2011;76;260Neurology

C. Depienne, M. Cincotta, S. Billot, et al.mirror movements

A novel DCC mutation and genetic heterogeneity in congenital

A second line of research addressed the cortical silent period in epilepsies:

Interictal inhibitory mechanisms in patients with cryptogenic motor cortexepilepsy: a study of the silent period following transcranial magnetic

stimulation

M. Cincotta*, A. Borgheresi, S. Lori, M. Fabbri, G. Zaccara

Electroencephalography and clinical Neurophysiology 107 (1998) 1–7

Another field of interest is the neuropsychological one, always mainly focused on

motor control. Here I would like to highlight the study of rhythmic auditory-motor

entrainment, also because characterizing the neural network underlying this ability

represents a potential tool for planning rehabilitative strategies based on auditory

cues.

Finally we participated in two controlled clinical trials on the therapeutic effects of

rTMS in partial epilepsies and in severe disorders of consciousness.