Task-related reconfiguration patterns of frontoparietal network during motor imagery

Motor imagery (MI) is closely associated with the frontoparietal network that includes prefrontal and posterior parietal regions. Studying task-related network reconfiguration after brain shifts from the resting state to the MI task is an important way to understand the brain's response process. However, how the brain modulates functional connectivity of the frontoparietal network when it shifts to MI has not been thoroughly studied. In this study, we attempted to characterize the frontoparietal network reconfiguration patterns as the brain transitioned to motor imagery tasks. We performed the analysis using EEG signals from 52 healthy subjects during left- and right-hand MI tasks. The results indicated distinct reconfiguration patterns in the frontoparietal network across four typical brain wave rhythms (theta (4 ∼ 7 Hz), alpha (8 ∼ 13 Hz), beta (14 ∼ 30 Hz), and gamma (31 ∼ 45 Hz)). Meanwhile, there was a significant positive correlation between the frontoparietal network reconfiguration and the event-related desynchronization of alpha and beta rhythms in the sensorimotor cortex. We further found that subjects with better MI-BCI performance exhibited greater reconfiguration of the frontoparietal network in alpha and beta rhythms. These findings implied that MI was accompanied by a shift in information interaction between brain regions, which might contribute to understanding the neural mechanisms of MI.