Differential frontal theta activity during cognitive and motor tasks

The present study investigated psychophysiological differences between cognitive and motor tasks. Participants were 16 university students (male= 10, female = 6) aged between 24 to 31 years (mean = 27.6 years, SD= 2.3 years). They were instructed to perform cognitive and motor tasks while their brain activity was simultaneously recorded using electroencephalography (EEG). A 3(task) × 8(area) × 4(bands) analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed on theta, alpha and beta frequency bands. The results showed that the cognitive task resulted in a significantly higher spectral power in the theta band at frontal electrodes than did the motor task. This suggests that the frontal lobe might be engaged in problem solving, resulting in increased theta activity. However, there were no differences in alpha and beta activity between the two tasks. The present study provides psychophysiological evidence for classifying cognitive and motor tasks, which has been a controversial issue for task classifications in motor learning research.