Amplitude of Sensorimotor Mu Rhythm Is Correlated with BOLD from Multiple Brain Regions: A Simultaneous EEG-fMRI Study

The mu rhythm is a field oscillation in the ∼10Hz range over the sensorimotor cortex. For decades, the suppression of mu (event-related desynchronization) has been used to index movement planning, execution, and imagery. Recent work reports that non-motor processes, such as spatial attention and movement observation, also desynchronize mu, raising the possibility that the mu rhythm is associated with the activity of multiple brain regions and systems. In this study, we tested this hypothesis by recording simultaneous resting-state EEG-fMRI from healthy subjects. Independent component analysis (ICA) was applied to extract the mu components. The amplitude (power) fluctuations of mu were estimated as a time series using a moving-window approach, which, after convolving with a canonical hemodynamic response function (HRF), was correlated with blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signals from the entire brain. Two main results were found. First, mu power was negatively correlated with BOLD from areas of the sensorimotor network, the attention control network, the putative mirror neuron system, and the network thought to support theory of mind. Second, mu power was positively correlated with BOLD from areas of the salience network, including anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that sensorimotor mu rhythm is associated with multiple brain regions and systems. They also suggest that caution should be exercised when attempting to interpret mu modulation in terms of a single brain network.