Sports-Related Motor Processing at Different Rates of Force Development

How does our brain manage to process vast quantities of sensory information that define movement performance? By extracting the required movement parameters for which brain dynamics are, inter alia, assumed to be functionally related to, we used electroencephalography to investigate motor-related brain oscillations. Visually guided movement (i.e., motor) tasks at explosive, medium and slow rates of force development (RFD) revealed increased broad-band activity at explosive RFD, whereas decreasing activity could be observed during both intermediate and slow RFD. Moreover, a continuously decreasing activity pattern from faster to slower RFD and a return to baseline activity after full muscle relaxation was found. We suggest oscillatory activity to desynchronize in sensorimotor demanding tasks, whereas task-specific synchronization mirrors movement acceleration. The pre/post-stimulus activity steady state may indicate an inhibitory baseline that provides attentional focus and timing.