Localizing movement-related primary sensorimotor cortices with multi-band EEG frequency changes and functional MRI

Electroencephalographic (EEG) oscillations in multiple frequency bands can be observed during functional activity of the cerebral cortex. An important question is whether activity of focal areas of cortex, such as during finger movements, is tracked by focal oscillatory EEG changes. Although a number of studies have compared EEG changes to functional MRI hemodynamic responses, we can find no previous research that relates the fMRI hemodynamic activity to localization of the multiple EEG frequency changes observed in motor tasks. In the present study, five participants performed similar thumb and finger movement tasks in parallel EEG and functional MRI studies. We examined changes in five frequency bands (from 5-120 Hz) and localized them using 256 dense-array EEG (dEEG) recordings and high-resolution individual head models. These localizations were compared with fMRI localizations in the same participants. Results showed that beta-band (14-30 Hz) desynchronizations (power decreases) were the most robust effects, appearing in all individuals, consistently localized to the hand region of the primary motor cortex, and consistently aligned with fMRI localizations.