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The potential of non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) for both probing human neuroplasticity and the induction of functionally relevant neuroplastic change has received significant interest. However, at present the utility of NIBS is limited due to high response variability. One reason for this response variability is that NIBS targets a diffuse cortical population and the net outcome to stimulation depends on the relative levels of excitability in each population. There is evidence that the relative excitability of complex oligosynaptic circuits (late I-wave circuits) as assessed by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is useful in predicting NIBS response.

Here we examined whether an additional marker of cortical excitability, MEP amplitude variability, could provide additional insights into response variability following application of the continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) NIBS protocol. Additionally …