Modular organization of reaching and grasping movements investigated using EEG microstates

How movements are generated and controlled by the central nervous system (CNS) is still not well understood. In this work, we tested the hypothesis of a modular organization of the brain activity during the execution of voluntary movements. In particular, we extracted meta-stable topographies as a measure for global brain state, so-called microstates, from electroencephalography (EEG) data during pure planar reaching movements as well as reaching and grasping of different objects, and we compared them with those extracted during resting-state. The results showed the emergence of specific EEG microstates related to movement execution. Our results provide evidence about the benefits of EEG microstate analysis for motor control studies and their importance to better understand brain reorganization in neurological pathologies.