Individual differences in intracortical inhibition predict motor-inhibitory performance

Studies in which single- and paired-pulse TMS was applied during motor task performance have shed considerable light on the functional relevance of popular TMS-derived neurophysiological biomarkers such as short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) and long-interval intracortical inhibition (LICI). While it has become well established that corticospinal excitability and intracortical inhibition are modulated during the enactment and cancellation of actions, it has remained unclear as to whether interindividual differences in these neurophysiological markers were associated with an individual’s actual ability to restrain and cancel actions. In this study, we found that individual differences in both SICI and LICI were positively associated with relevant performance metrics on the go/no-go task and stop-signal task. Specifically, we found that individuals with greater resting SICI and LICI were faster to respond on go trials of the go/no-go task and were also more accurate at inhibiting their manual responses on both go/no-go and stop-signal tasks. These results are in support of findings from our earlier study and also provide new evidence for a general relationship between individual differences in resting-state GABAergic intracortical inhibitory functioning and motor inhibition.