Modern neuroimaging has advanced our understanding of the human brain in a way that would have been unthinkable even 30 years ago. fMRI in particular has captured the public imagination, but is certainly not the only way we can use imaging to study human neurophysiology. Here I will discuss recent work using multimodal human neuroimaging combined with non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) to study the physiological processes occurring in the brain as we learn, using human motor learning as an exemplar.

I will discuss how techniques such as MR Spectroscopy can reveal neurochemical changes associated with learning, how modern electrophysiology can determine important neural dynamics, and how we can link these levels of explanation to develop potential new therapeutic tools for motor recovery after brain injuries such as stroke. Finally, I will reflect on to what extent we can relate our findings with those from animal models, and what challenges remain to be overcome.