Event-related changes in neuromagnetic activity associated with syncopation and synchronization timing tasks

• Published in: Human brain mapping Vol. 14; no. 2; pp. 65 - 80
• Main Authors: Mayville, Justine M., Fuchs, Armin, Ding, Mingzhou, Cheyne, Douglas, Deecke, Lüder, Kelso, J.A. Scott
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.10.2001; Wiley-Liss
• Subjects: Acoustic Stimulation; Adult; auditory; Auditory Cortex - anatomy & histology; Auditory Cortex - physiology; Auditory Perception - physiology; Beta Rhythm; Biological and medical sciences; Brain Mapping; Cerebral Cortex - physiology; Cortical Synchronization; Electrodiagnosis. Electric activity recording; Evoked Potentials - physiology; Female; Functional Laterality - physiology; Humans; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Magnetoencephalography; Male; Medical sciences; MEG; motor; Motor Cortex - anatomy & histology; Motor Cortex - physiology; Motor Skills - physiology; Movement - physiology; Nervous system; Original; Periodicity; phase transition; Reaction Time - physiology; sensorimotor coordination; Time Factors; Time Perception - physiology; Human; Electrodiagnosis; Nervous system diseases; Coordination; Syncope; Consciousness impairment; Central nervous system; Exploration; Neurological disorder; Synchronization; Event evoked potential
• DOI: 10.1002/hbm.1042
• ISSN: 1065-9471

For low rhythmic rates (1.0 to ∼2.0 Hz), subjects are able to successfully coordinate finger flexion with an external metronome in either a syncopated (between the beats) or synchronized (on each beat) fashion. Beyond this rate, however, syncopation becomes unstable and subjects spontaneously switch to synchronization to maintain a 1:1 stimulus/response relationship. We used a whole‐head magnetometer to investigate the spatiotemporal dynamics of neuromagnetic activity (MEG) associated with both coordinative patterns at eight different rates spanning the range 1.0–2.75 Hz. Timing changes in the event‐related fields accompanied transitions from syncopation to synchronization and followed the placement of the motor response within each stimulus/response cycle. Decomposition of event‐related fields into component auditory and motor brain responses revealed that the amplitude of the former decreased with increasing coordination rate whereas the motor contribution remained approximately constant across all rates. Such an interaction may contribute to changes in auditory‐motor integration that cause syncopation to become unstable. Examination of event‐related changes in high frequency bands revealed that MEG signal power in the beta band (15–30 Hz) was significantly lower during syncopated coordination in sensors covering the contralateral sensorimotor area suggesting a dependence of beta rhythm amplitude on task difficulty. Suppression of beta rhythms was also stronger during synchronization preceded by syncopation, e.g., after subjects had switched, when compared with a control condition in which subjects synchronized throughout the entire range of rates. Hum. Brain Mapping 14:65–80, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.