My urge, my tic - a missing link between urges and tic inhibition

Abstract Despite the fact that premonitory urges precede most tics in patients with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS), the voluntariness of tic elicitation and its suppressibility as a response to these urges still remains unclear. Moreover, there are no systematic studies examining the association between urge intensity and the ability to suppress tics. As shown by behavioral, neurophysiological, and imaging data, sensorimotor networks in GTS exhibit altered patterns of organization modulated through interactions with frontomesial networks of volitional inhibition.