Cemre Yılmaz

Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Investigation of the Motor Cortex

Determining motor cortex activation and motor control differences in fibromyalgia patients versus healthy controls

Context Research question Methods & Experimental Design Results & Insights Outcome & Impact

Context

Part of my BSc thesis in NeuroLab, Middle East Technical University (METU), Turkey

  • Supervisors: Assist. Prof. Dr. Aykut Eken & Assoc. Prof. Dr. Didem Gökçay
  • Period: 10/2014 – 07/2015

Research Question

How is motor‐cortex activation during simple finger-tapping and median nerve stimulation modulated in patients with Fibromyalgia (FM) compared to healthy controls (HC)?

Methods & Experimental Design

  • Sample: 15 healthy individuals + 15 fibromyalgia patients.
  • Tasks:
    1. Finger-tapping task (FTT) — dominant and non-dominant hand
    2. Median nerve stimulation (MNS) — separate condition relevant to the PhD project
  • Neuroimaging: functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to record hemodynamic responses over cortical regions
  • Analysis: Basic statistical analysis using MS Excel on FTT data to localize the motor cortex; further comparisons between groups to detect inter-hemispheric and group differences

Results & Insights

  • Successfully identified motor cortex activation in both groups, with unexpected ipsilateral hemisphere activity indicating inter-hemispheric interactions during finger-tapping task
  • Between‐group differences: During FTT, healthy controls exhibited higher activity in bilateral superior parietal gyrus (SPG), left supramarginal gyrus (SMG), and right somatosensory cortex (SI)
  • During MNS, fibromyalgia patients showed higher activation in bilateral SPG, right SMG, and right postcentral gyrus relative to healthy controls
  • A negative correlation between FTT and MNS activity in left SPG suggests this region might mediate the link between fine motor loss and allodynia in FM

Outcome & Impact

The findings extend our view of fibromyalgia beyond sensory dysfunction into motor‐control domains, highlighting cortical motor and parietal regions as potential targets for future research and intervention.

Peer-reviewed article

Eken, A.; Gökçay, D.; Yılmaz, C.; Baskak, B.; Baltacı, A.; & Kara, M. (2017). Association of Fine Motor Loss and Allodynia in Fibromyalgia: An fNIRS Study. Journal of Motor Behavior, 50(6), 664–676. doi: 10.1080/00222895.2017.1400947

Scientific talk

Algı, Hareket ve Kontrolü Çalıştayı (Workshop on Perception, Motion and Its Control), 15.12.2017. at the Neuropsychiatry of Education Research and Application Center, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey.

Poster presentations

Eken, A.; Gökçay, D.; Topcu, C.; Baskak, B.; Baltacı, A.; & Kara, M. (2017). Classification of fibromyalgia syndrome by using NIRS signals, Organization for Human Brain Mapping Conference, Vancouver, Canada, 2017. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.12136.26889.

Eken, A.; Gökçay, D.; Topcu, C.; Baskak, B.; Baltacı, A.; & Kara, M. (2015) Analyzing Hand Preference in Self-Guided Tactile Stimulation for FM patients: an fNIRS Study. Medical Technologies National Conference (TIPTEKNO), Bodrum, Turkey, 2015. doi: 10.1109/TIPTEKNO.2015.7374599

Keywords: fibromyalgia, fNIRS, motor cortex, fine motor control, allodynia, inter-hemispheric interaction