Behavioral/Cognitive Distinct Modulations in Sensorimotor Postmovement and Foreperiod ␤-Band Activities Related to Error Salience Processing and Sensorimotor Adaptation

International audienceIn a recent study, Tan et al. (2014a,b) showed that the increase in ␤-power typically observed after a movement above sensorimotor regions (␤-rebound) is attenuated when movement-execution errors are induced by visual perturbations. Moreover, akin to sensorimo-tor adaptation, the effect depended on the context in which the errors are experienced. Thus the ␤-rebound attenuation might relate to neural processes involved in trial-to-trial adaptive mechanisms. In two EEG experiments with human participants, along with the ␤-rebound, we examine ␤-activity during the preparation of reaches immediately following perturbed movements. In the first experiment , we show that both foreperiod and postmovement ␤-activities are parametrically modulated by the sizes of kinematic errors produced by unpredictable mechanical perturbations (force field) independent of their on-line corrections. In the second experiment, we contrast two types of reach errors: movement-execution errors that trigger trial-to-trial adaptive mechanisms and goal errors that do not elicit sensorimotor adaptation. Movement-execution errors were induced by mechanical or visual perturbations, whereas goal errors were caused by unexpected displacements of the target at movement initiation. Interestingly, foreperiod and postmovement ␤-activities exhibit contrasting patterns, pointing to important functional differences of their underlying neuronal activity. While both types of reach errors attenuate the postmovement ␤-rebound, only the kinematic errors that trigger trial-to-trial motor-command updates influenced ␤-activity during the foreperiod. These findings suggest that the error-related modulation of the ␤-rebound may reflect salience processing , independent of sensorimotor adaptation. In contrast, modulations in the foreperiod ␤-power might relate to the motor-command adjustments activated after movement-execution errors are experienced