Abstract
To better understand human brain dynamics during visually guided locomotion, we developed a method of removing motion artifacts from mobile electroencephalography (EEG) and studied human subjects walking and running over obstacles on a treadmill. We constructed a novel dual-layer EEG electrode system to isolate electrocortical signals, and then validated the system using an electrical head phantom and robotic motion platform. We collected data from young healthy subjects walking and running on a treadmill while they encountered unexpected obstacles to step over. Supplementary motor area and premotor cortex had spectral power increases within ~200 ms after object appearance in delta, theta, and alpha frequency bands (3–13 Hz). That activity was followed by similar posterior parietal cortex spectral power increase that decreased in lag time with increasing locomotion speed. The sequence of activation suggests that supplementary motor area and premotor cortex interrupted the gait cycle, while posterior parietal cortex tracked obstacle location for planning foot placement nearly two steps ahead of reaching the obstacle. Together, these results highlight advantages of adopting dual-layer mobile EEG, which should greatly facilitate the study of human brain dynamics in physically active real-world settings and tasks.
Highlights
To better understand human brain dynamics during visually guided locomotion, we developed a method of removing motion artifacts from mobile electroencephalography (EEG) and studied human subjects walking and running over obstacles on a treadmill
Slow voluntary motor adjustments have been attributed to prefrontal, premotor, and primary motor cortices, while fast automatic adjustments have been linked to posterior parietal cortex[7,8,9] and subcortical pathways involving superior colliculi, pontine nucleus, or cerebellum[10,11,12,13,14,15,16]
By using combined hardware and signal processing solutions for motion artifact removal, we found it is possible to identify human brain activity while humans stepped over obstacles while walking and running
Summary
To better understand human brain dynamics during visually guided locomotion, we developed a method of removing motion artifacts from mobile electroencephalography (EEG) and studied human subjects walking and running over obstacles on a treadmill. The sequence of activation suggests that supplementary motor area and premotor cortex interrupted the gait cycle, while posterior parietal cortex tracked obstacle location for planning foot placement nearly two steps ahead of reaching the obstacle. Together, these results highlight advantages of adopting dual-layer mobile EEG, which should greatly facilitate the study of human brain dynamics in physically active real-world settings and tasks. Data processing pipelines that use independent component analysis and source localization can separate motion artifacts from electrical brain activity for some walking speeds, but are not successful for fast walking or running[51]
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