Frequency-specific equivalence of brain activity on motor imagery during action observation and action execution

• Published in: International journal of neuroscience Vol. 131; no. 6; pp. 599 - 608
• Main Authors: Chen, Jiu, Kan, Wenwu, Liu, Yong, Hu, Xinhua, Wu, Ting, Zou, Yuanjie, Liu, Hongyi, Yang, Kun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis 03.06.2021
• Subjects: action execution; action observation; Adult; Brain activity; Brain Waves - physiology; Female; Fingers - physiology; Humans; Imagination - physiology; Magnetoencephalography; Male; Motor Activity - physiology; motor imagery; multi-frequency MEG; Visual Perception - physiology; Young Adult; action execution; motor imagery; multi-frequency MEG; Brain activity; action observation
• ISSN: 0020-7454; 1563-5279; 1543-5245; 1563-5279
• DOI: 10.1080/00207454.2020.1750394

Human motor imagery (MI), action execution, and action observation (AO) are functionally considered as equivalent. MI during AO can extensively induce activation of motor-related brain network in the absence of overt movement. The magnetoencephalography (MEG) provides an important technology to reveal and reflect human brain information processing in multi-frequency bands. Utilizing a MEG system, we aimed to quantitatively investigate the frequency-specific equivalent characteristics in brain processing patterns between MI during AO and action execution in multi-frequency bands, including delta, theta, alpha, beta, gamma, and high-frequency oscillations. A total of 12 healthy subjects were studied with a whole-head MEG system during finger movement and MI during finger movement observation. We analyzed the brain activities in multi-frequency ranges of 1 Hz to 200 Hz. Both MI during AO and action execution evoked the distinctive brain activities in low frequency ranges (i.e. delta, theta, and alpha). Significant differences were found in global spectral power between finger movement and MI during AO in delta and alpha oscillations. Compared with finger movement, delta (1-4 Hz) oscillation power in MI during AO were obviously decreased in left and right frontals and occipitals, and theta (4-8 Hz) and alpha (8-13 Hz) oscillation power were obviously increased in frontal, parietal and occipital. MEG power evoked by finger movement and MI during AO is mainly concentrated in the energy distribution below 13 Hz. Furthermore, finger movement and MI during AO might share frequency-specific equivalence of brain neural activation dependent on different MEG frequency ranges.