Corticomuscular coherence behavior in fine motor control of force: a critical review

Understanding how the human motor control operates is an important issue to the neuroscience. One example is how the motor cortex controls muscle activity, which can be observed through corticomuscular coherence (CMC).

Our study aimed to verify the influence of certain factors related to the fine motor control of force tasks on CMC. Our issue is if would be possible the strength of the coupling between the central and muscular systems measured by changes in oscillatory activity of beta- and gamma-band being influenced by these factors as much healthy subjects as patients.

Beta-band CMC was especially important when executing sustaining accurate control tasks, which need more concentration and effort. However, we found that beta-band CMC was influenced by some factors. With regard to gamma-band CMC, apparently a complex and continuous dynamic integration of several mechanisms would be necessary to modulate gamma-band CMC, since it was not modulated by magnitude of force. Therefore, it seems these mechanisms would be required to an adequate and effective neural networks operation when a dynamic force output is required.

Beta- and gamma-band CMC could enrich our understanding of the dynamic changes of the motor system not only in health subjects but also in neurological patients. It may serve as a sensitive index for quantifying dynamical changes in fine motor control of force. It has the potential to become a useful tool to characterize the patterns of changes in central nervous system's activities for the purposes of basic research, especially in restoring of motor function.