Goal-directed or aimless? EEG differences during the preparation of a reach-and-touch task

The natural control of neuroprostheses is currently a challenge in both rehabilitation engineering and brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) research. One of the recurrent problems is to know exactly when to activate such devices. For the execution of the most common activities of daily living, these devices only need to be active when in the presence of a goal. Therefore, we believe that the distinction between the planning of goal-directed and aimless movements, using non-invasive recordings, can be useful for the implementation of a simple and effective activation method for these devices. We investigated whether those differences are detectable during a reach-and-touch task, using electroencephalography (EEG). Event-related potentials and oscillatory activity changes were studied. Our results show that there are statistically significant differences between both types of movement. Combining this information with movement decoding would allow a natural control strategy for BCIs, exclusively relying on the cognitive processes behind movement preparation and execution.