Abstract
Motor cortical beta activity (13–30 Hz) is a hallmark signature of healthy and pathological movement, but its behavioural relevance remains unclear. Using high-precision magnetoencephalography (MEG), we show that during the classical event-related desynchronisation (ERD) and event-related synchronisation (ERS) periods, motor cortical beta activity in individual trials (n > 12,000) is dominated by high amplitude, transient, and infrequent bursts. Beta burst probability closely matched the trial-averaged beta amplitude in both the pre- and post-movement periods, but individual bursts were spatially more focal than the classical ERS peak. Furthermore, prior to movement (ERD period), beta burst timing was related to the degree of motor preparation, with later bursts resulting in delayed response times. Following movement (ERS period), the first beta burst was delayed by approximately 100 milliseconds when an incorrect response was made. Overall, beta burst timing was a stronger predictor of single trial behaviour than beta burst rate or single trial beta amplitude. This transient nature of motor cortical beta provides new constraints for theories of its role in information processing within and across cortical circuits, and its functional relevance for behaviour in both healthy and pathological movement.
Highlights
IntroductionPre-movement beta is, on average, characterised by slow and spatially diffuse decreases in amplitude, which can start 1–2 seconds prior to movement onset [9]
Cortical activity in the beta frequency range (13–30 Hz) has been recognised for nearly a century, and occurs with systematic modulations before, during, and after movement [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8].Pre-movement beta is, on average, characterised by slow and spatially diffuse decreases in amplitude, which can start 1–2 seconds prior to movement onset [9]
Using human high-precision magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings [49,50,51] and single trial behavioural modelling, we show that the precise timing of beta bursts in motor cortex relates closely to movement initiation and the commission of errors
Summary
Pre-movement beta is, on average, characterised by slow and spatially diffuse decreases in amplitude, which can start 1–2 seconds prior to movement onset [9]. This average pre-movement beta signal is commonly referred to as the event-related desynchronisation (ERD) and is influenced by a wide range of processes, including motor preparation [10,11,12], decisions for actions [13,14,15], and movement kinematics [3,6,7,16]. Average beta activity increases before gradually returning to baseline
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