EEG-Informed fMRI Analysis Reveals Neurovascular Coupling in Motor Execution and Imagery

The complementary strengths of electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have driven extensive research into integrating these two noninvasive modalities to better understand the neural mechanisms underlying cognitive, sensory, and motor functions. However, the precise neural patterns associated with motor functions, especially imagined movements, remain unclear. Specifically, the correlations between electrophysiological responses and hemodynamic activations during executed and imagined movements have not been fully elucidated at a whole-brain level. In this study, we employed an EEG-informed fMRI approach on concurrent EEG-fMRI data to map hemodynamic changes associated with dynamic EEG temporal features during motor-related brain activities. We localized and differentiated the hemodynamic activations corresponding to continuous EEG temporal dynamics across multiple motor execution and imagery tasks. Validation against conventional block fMRI analysis demonstrated high precision in identifying regions specific to motor activities, underscoring the accuracy of the EEG-driven model. Beyond the expected sensorimotor activations, the integrated analysis revealed supplementary coactivated regions showing significant negative covariation between blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) activities and sensorimotor EEG alpha power, including the cerebellum and insular cortex. These findings confirmed both the colocalization of EEG and fMRI activities in sensorimotor regions and a negative covariation between EEG alpha band power and BOLD changes. Moreover, the results provide novel insights into neurovascular coupling during motor execution and imagery on a brain-wide scale, advancing our understanding of the neural dynamics underlying motor functions.