Differentiation between finger, toe and tongue movement in man based on 40 Hz EEG

Movements of right and left index fingers, right toe and tongue were studied by EEG measurement in the alpha and gamma (30-40 Hz) bands. The EEG was recorded with a 56-electrode array over pre- and postcentral areas. For each movement the average power decrease, as a measurement of the event-related desynchronization or power increase in narrow frequency bands, was calculated. Single-trial data from 8 electrodes, 3 frequency bands and 4 time points within a 1 sec window were subject to a classification task. It was found that, based on single EEG trials, the data from the 4 movements could be differentiated with an accuracy of 70% when alpha and gamma band activity were used but only with 58% in the case of the alpha band activity alone. This shows that the gamma band activity or 40 Hz EEG is strongly related to planning of a specific movement and therefore, improves the accuracy of classification significantly.