# The role of cortical and subcortical β-bursts in the cognitive control of human movement

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF IOWA · 2020 · $387,364

## Abstract

Abstract
Activity in the β-frequency band (15-29Hz) is a highly prominent feature of neural recordings found across
species, recording techniques, and spatial scales. Changes in β-activity are particularly prominent during motor
processes. Movement-related β-activity can be observed in the cortical areas of the pyramidal motor system, as
well as in the subcortical areas of the extrapyramidal motor system. Pathological β-activity is a hallmark of
movement disorders, most prominently of Parkinson's Disease (PD). Indeed, β-activity is used both as a
neurophysiological marker of disease progression in PD and as a target in newly developed, cutting-edge
treatment methods such as closed-loop adaptive neurostimulation.
However, recent studies in non-human animals have cast a fundamental layer of doubt on the nature of this
neural signal and its relationship to behavior. Past studies of β-activity have focused on averaged changes of
signal-power across time (or across trials of a task), as is typical in neurophysiological studies. What recent
studies have shown, however, is that unaveraged β-band activity is not characterized by the type of steady
(de)synchronizations of activity that are found in the average. Instead, β is characterized by short, transient,
burst-like `events'. The burst-like nature of this signal, however, is lost in the average – and along with it, the
systematic relationships that can be found between dynamics of these β-burst events and motor control on
individual trials. Therefore, there is a critical need to investigate how burst-like β-events relate to both normal
and pathological motor control in humans.
We here propose a detailed, systematic investigation of this relationship. In an extensive pilot investigation, we
have found that both human movement initiation and movement cancellation are accompanied by highly specific
and systematic patterns of non-invasively recorded β-bursts. This suggests the overarching hypothesis that β-
bursts are a universal signature that signify inhibitory processes in the motor system. The work in this grant
proposal aims to systematically test this guiding hypothesis by linking specific patterns of β-bursts to established
theoretical models of motor inhibition in the human brain, by investigating the origins of movement-related β-
bursts in both cortical and subcortical regions that constitute the human motor system, and by providing causal
evidence for the role of β-bursts in conveying inhibitory motor control commands across the motor system.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10028892
- **Project number:** 1R01NS117753-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
- **Principal Investigator:** Jan R Wessel
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $387,364
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-07-01 → 2025-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10028892

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10028892, The role of cortical and subcortical β-bursts in the cognitive control of human movement (1R01NS117753-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10028892. Licensed CC0.

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