Motor Learning Enhancement by Self-control of Brain Activity– Simultaneous Real-time Functional MRI/EEG Neurofeedback –

Abstract

It is unclear what brain status is appropriate for motor learning. More over, the brain activity should extract from the brain activity during preparation to reveal the appropriate brain status because the brain activity related to the motor execution contaminates the brain activity related to preparation and planning during motor learning. The purpose of this study is to reveal the correlation between the good performance of the motor learning task and brain activity using EEG or fMRI. Nine and five right-handed healthy volunteers participated in the fMRI and EEG study, respectively. They were asked to control the cursor using a joystick with non-dominant hand and follow the random moving target. Brain activity was recorded by fMRI or EEG. There was the significant correlation between the alpha and beta power in the left visual cortex during preparation and the task performance in the fMRI. While, there was the significant correlation between the alpha and beta power in the left inferior frontal gyrus and the alpha power in the left premotor cortex, and the task performance in the EEG result. These results showed that low activity in the left visual cortex, high activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus and the left premotor cortex cause the good performance of this visuomotor target following task.