Electroencephalogram (EEG) and electromyogram (EMG) traces were made in ten adult subjects in the resting state (eyes open) and on execution of real and imaginary rhythmically repeating movements. Vector autoregression modeling was used to evaluate the directed transfer function (DTF) for six bilaterally symmetrical EEG channels (F1/2, C3/4, and P5/6) and two EMG channels (flexor carpi radialis in the left and right upper limbs). Subjects executed real and imaginary repetitive opening and clenching of the right and left hands. Statistical analysis of DTF averaged in the α and γ ranges, corresponding to top-down and bottom-up corticomuscular influences, showed (1) top-down influences changed in different ways in the α and γ frequency ranges on transition from resting to imaginary and real movements. In the α range, these influences increased on performance of real movements while in imaginary movements they were no different from the resting state. In the γ range, the top-down influence of signals from the left frontal lead on the EMG channel of the right arm increased as compared with the resting state on performance of both real and imaginary movements; (2) that bottom-up influences showed a tendency to change: in real movements, these influences in both frequency ranges were slightly greater than at rest; (3) that bottom-up influences in both the α and γ ranges on imaginary movements displayed a tendency to take up a lower level than in controls; (4) that top-down influences in both frequency ranges were significantly greater than bottom-up influences; (5) that the greatest top-down influences in the α range in both real and imaginary movements were seen in the frontal rather than the central areas.
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Deceased (A. A. Frolov).
Translated from Zhurnal Vysshei Nervnoi Deyatel’nosti imeni I. P. Pavlova, Vol. 70, No. 6, pp. 738–751, November–December, 2020.
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Kurgansky, M.E., Bobrov, P.D., Frolov, A.A. et al. Corticomuscular Interactions in Real and Imaginary Arm Movements. Neurosci Behav Physi 51, 724–733 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-021-01128-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-021-01128-9