Electroencephalographic modulations during an open- or closed-eyes motor task

Abstract

There is fundamental knowledge that during the resting state cerebral activity recorded by electroencephalography (EEG) is strongly modulated by the eyes-closed condition compared to the eyes-open condition, especially in the occipital lobe. However, little research has demonstrated the influence of the eyes-closed condition on the motor cortex, particularly during a self-paced movement. This prompted the question: How does the motor cortex activity change between the eyes-closed and eyes-open conditions? To answer this question, we recorded EEG signals from 15 voluntary healthy subjects who performed a simple motor task (i.e., a voluntary isometric flexion of the right-hand index) under two conditions: eyes-closed and eyes-open. Our results confirmed strong modulation in the mu rhythm (7–13 Hz) with a large event-related desynchronisation. However, no significant differences have been observed in the beta band (15–30 Hz). Furthermore, evidence suggests that the eyes-closed condition influences the behaviour of subjects. This study gives us greater insight into the motor cortex and could also be useful in the brain-computer interface (BCI) domain.

Keywords

• Electroencephalography
• Motor cortex
• Event-relatedsynchronization (ERS)
• Event-related desynchronization (ERD)
• Eyes-closed
• Eyes-open