Research › QEEG, Methods & Mechanisms
Brain activity associated with skilled finger movements: Multichannel magnetic recordings
STS Instructor Authored by Giuseppe A. Chiarenza
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Study at a glance
- Area
- QEEG, Methods & Mechanisms
- Authors
- Chiarenza GA, Hari RK, Karhu JJ, Tessore S
- Journal
- Brain Topography
- Year
- 1991
- Participants
- 4 healthy adults
- Population
- Adults
- Protocol
- magnetoencephalography of readiness and post-movement fields during a skilled timing task with feedback
- Equipment
- 24-channel SQUID magnetometer
Key findings
- A readiness field began about 0.5 s before movement and peaked just after muscle onset
- A movement-evoked field of opposite polarity appeared 90–120 ms after muscle onset
- A later 'skilled-performance' field appeared 400–500 ms after muscle onset
- Sources lay within 2 cm of somatosensory response sources in the posterior Rolandic fissure
Healthy adults pressed two buttons in quick succession with two fingers, aiming for a tight time gap and getting feedback after each attempt, while brain magnetic fields were recorded with magnetoencephalography. A slow readiness field built up about half a second before the movement, an opposite-polarity field followed shortly after it, and a later field appeared around 400–500 ms that the authors link to skilled performance. All three were localised near the sensory strip of the cortex, close to where touch responses arise. The sample was very small.