A Pilot Study on Coupling Behaviors of Limb Movements and Brain Activation Based on EEG and fNIRS Synchronization Information

Motion is one of the basic physiological functions of human beings. However, many brain diseases such as stroke may cause different degrees of motor dysfunctions for patients. As a commonly used rehabilitation method, active and passive exercise training may enhance patients’ neuromuscular functions and recover their motor abilities. It is known that limb movements are strongly coupled with brain activation but there is currently insufficient exploration on the coupling behaviors from the perspective of informatics. In this study, the coupling relationship between limb movements and brain activation was preliminarily studied based on three healthy subjects. Electroencephalogram (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) signals were synchronously collected during lower limb movements, and time-frequency analysis (TFA) and transfer entropy (TE) analysis were performed to quantitatively study the brain activation behaviors. In the experiments, a desynchronization phenomenon of μ rhythm in EEG was observed during exercise states, and the experimental results demonstrate the activation rule of motor and prefrontal cortexes upon limb movements. Calculations show that there exists a bidirectional flow of information between EEG and cerebral oxygen metabolism signals, but with a difference between different directions. This work may support the rehabilitation for patients with motor dysfunctions with a guidance of quantitative indicators and also benefit the exploration on neuroscience.