Hand, foot and lip representations in primary sensorimotor cortex: a high-density electroencephalography study

Abstract

The primary sensorimotor cortex plays a major role in the execution of movements of the contralateral side of the body. The topographic representation of different body parts within this brain region is commonly investigated through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). However, fMRI does not provide direct information about neuronal activity. In this study, we used high-density electroencephalography (hdEEG) to map the representations of hand, foot, and lip movements in the primary sensorimotor cortex, and to study their neural signatures. Specifically, we assessed the event-related desynchronization (ERD) in the cortical space. We found that the performance of hand, foot, and lip movements elicited an ERD in beta and gamma frequency bands. The primary regions showing significant beta- and gamma-band ERD for hand and foot movements, respectively, were consistent with previously reported using fMRI. We observed relatively weaker ERD for lip movements, which may be explained by the fact that less fine movement control was required. Overall, our study demonstrated that ERD based on hdEEG data can support the study of motor-related neural processes, with relatively high spatial resolution. An interesting avenue may be the use of hdEEG for deeper investigations into the pathophysiology of neuromotor disorders.

Frequency‐dependent functional connectivity in resting state networks

“…A number of limitations of this study should be mentioned. First we performed source localization using the eLORETA algorithm (Pascual‐Marqui et al, 2011), in line with our previous studies (Liu et al, 2017, 2018; Samogin et al, 2019; Zhao, Marino, Samogin, Swinnen, & Mantini, 2019). It has however been shown that each source localization method has different effects on EEG connectivity estimates (Anzolin et al, 2019).…”

Modulation of neural oscillations during working memory update, maintenance, and readout: An hdEEG study

“…Indeed, working memory is a high cognitive function that refers to the ability to encode, manipulate and retrieve information online and over a limited period of time (Baddeley, 1996). To this aim, taking advantage of recent developments on the accurate reconstruction of neural activity in the brain from hdEEG (Liu et al, 2017; Zhao et al, 2019), we analyzed spectral signatures associated with updating of memory information, its maintenance and its readout when used to inform and guide behavior. We a priori selected a large fronto‐parietal network (Mencarelli et al, 2019), including also the insula, involved in memory storage, and the cerebellum as subcortical area that has demonstrated to be involved in cognitive functions (Strick, Dum, & Fiez, 2009).…”

“…To this end, we used a custom developed pipeline for performing source localization from hdEEG data. This pipeline is able to detect multiple brain networks that are spatially similar to those obtained from fMRI data (Liu, Farahibozorg, Porcaro, Wenderoth, & Mantini, 2017; Liu, Ganzetti, Wenderoth, & Mantini, 2018; Zhao, Marino, Samogin, Swinnen, & Mantini, 2019).…”

Investigating the spectral features of the brain meso-scale structure at rest

“…Then, per each participant, we averaged the adjacency matrices (i.e. see above) within the following frequency ranges, according to (Samogin et al, 2019;Zhao, Marino, Samogin, Swinnen, & Mantini, 2019): delta (δ, 1-4 Hz), theta (θ, 4-8 Hz), alpha (α, 8-13 Hz), beta (β, 13-30 Hz), gamma low (γL, 30-50 Hz) and gamma high (γH, 50-80 Hz).…”