An improvement in perception of self-generated tactile stimuli following theta-burst stimulation of primary motor cortex

We show that application of a 20 s continuous train of TBS, that depresses motor cortex, significantly improves performance in a force-matching task. This suggests that the TBS intervention disturbed the predictive process that uses efference copy signals to attenuate predictable sensory input. A possible explanation for the effect is that TBS has a differential effect on the populations of neurones that generate motor output in M1 than on those neural structures that are involved in generating an efference copy of the motor command.