title: Phase coupling between different motor areas during tongue-movement imagery.
abstract: Motor imagery can be accompanied by an enhancement of brain oscillations (event-related synchronization, ERS) within specific frequency bands. To characterize the neuronal couplings involved during these prominent power changes, we have chosen a certain coupling measure that bears directly on the issue of transient cortical connections. Specifically, we applied for the first time the phase-locking value to investigate the phase coupling of sensorimotor rhythms in different motor areas during tongue-movement imagery. Most interesting, we showed that robust neuronal couplings within the alpha frequency range are established between the midcentral position and bilateral central electrode positions, overlying the supplementary motor area (SMA) and the right and left primary sensorimotor area, respectively. In contrast, no direct linkage was present between sensorimotor rhythms in both hemispheres. We suggest that the coupling results point at a separate interplay between neural networks within the SMA and lateralized networks in primary sensorimotor areas of each hemisphere during motor imagery.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Informatics, University of Technology, Ilmenau, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Spiegler
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Graimann
authors.forename: Gert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pfurtscheller
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003344:Cortical Synchronization; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D019018:Imagery, Psychotherapy; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D014059:Tongue / Q000502:physiology*