PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Sara J Hussain
AU  - Mary K Vollmer
AU  - Iñaki Iturrate
AU  - Romain Quentin
TI  - Voluntary motor commands are preferentially released during restricted sensorimotor beta rhythm phases
AID  - 10.1101/776393
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 776393
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/03/09/776393.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/03/09/776393.full
AB  - Voluntary movement requires motor commands to be released from motor cortex (M1) and transmitted to spinal motoneurons and effector muscles. M1 activity oscillates between brief excitatory and inhibitory states that correlate with single neuron spiking rates. Here, we asked if the motor commands needed to produce voluntary, self-paced finger movements are preferentially released from M1 during restricted phases of this ongoing sensorimotor oscillatory activity. 21 healthy adults performed a self-paced finger movement task while EEG and EMG signals were recorded. For each finger movement, we identified the individual sensorimotor mu (8-12 Hz) and beta (13-35 Hz) oscillatory phase at the estimated time of motor command release from M1 by subtracting individually-defined MEP latencies from EMG-determined movement onset times. We report that motor commands were preferentially released at ~120° along the beta cycle but were released uniformly across the mu cycle. These results suggest that motor commands are preferentially released from M1 near optimal peak phases of endogenous beta rhythms.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.