Resting-State Functional Networks Correlate with Motor Performance in a Complex Visuomotor Task: An EEG Microstate Pilot Study on Healthy Individuals

Brain Topogr. 2022 Dec 25. doi: 10.1007/s10548-022-00934-9. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTDeveloping motor and cognitive skills is needed to achieve expert (motor) performance or functional recovery from a neurological condition, e.g., after stroke. While extensive practice plays an essential role in the acquisition of good motor performance, it is still unknown whether certain person-specific traits may predetermine the rate of motor learning. In particular, learners' functional brain organisation might play an important role in appropriately performing motor tasks. In this paper, we aimed to study how two critical cognitive brain networks-the Attention Network (AN) and the Default Mode Network (DMN)-affect the posterior motor performance in a complex visuomotor task: virtual surfing. We hypothesised that the preactivation of the AN would affect how participants divert their attention towards external stimuli, resulting in robust motor performance. Conversely, the excessive involvement of the DMN-linked to internally diverted attention and mind-wandering-would be detrimental for posterior motor performance. We extracted seven widely accepted microstates-representing participants mind states at rest-out of the Electroencephalography (EEG) resting-state recordings of 36 healthy volunteers, prior to execution of the virtual surfing task. By correlating neural biomarkers (microstates) and motor behavioural metrics, we confirmed that the preactivation of the posterior DMN was cor...
Source: Brain Topography - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Source Type: research