The Post-Movement Beta Rebound and Motor-Related Mu Suppression in Children

Abstract

Age-related EEG activity change is a prominent feature that reflects the functional development of the brain. The current study investigated the beta and mu rhythms of 16 children (7.7 ± 1.5 years, 5 to 9.6 years) and 13 adults when a self-determining arm motion was performed. The results indicated that mu power was decreased during movement and returned to baseline level after the movement for both children and adults. However, although a decrease in beta power was observed for both children and adults during movement, the post-movement beta power rebound (PMBR) was observed in adults but not in children. These results suggest that motor-related mu suppression develops early in children; PMBR develops later and may be associated with a more prolonged motor development process.

Keywords:

• EEG
• post-movement beta power rebound
• mu rhythm
• movement
• children

Conflict of interest

The authors declared that they have no conflicts of interest to this work.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China 31771200 (W.F. Feng) and 31400893 (Y. Liao)