FIGURE 3.

Skill training and cortical stimulation effects on motor maps of the paretic limb

Motor skill training focused on the paretic forelimb (“rehabilitative training”) promotes the maintenance and restoration of forelimb movement representations, as well as the growth of dendrites and maturation of synapses in motor cortex. The effects of rehabilitative training are disrupted by prior training of the nonparetic limb (to model learning to compensate with this limb). The effects of rehabilitative training are amplified when electrical stimulation is delivered to cortex concurrently with training. Arrows indicate the magnitude of improvement in skilled motor function relative to no training.