Beta oscillations during adaptation to inertial and velocity dependent perturbations
Movements are associated with a beta (15-30 Hz) power decrease during movement preparation and a rebound after its termination. Motor learning and practice are characterized by an increase of the rebound. However, the introduction of a sensorimotor perturbation negatively affects such measure. In this preliminary study, we investigated whether two learning processes affect beta electroencephalographic activity: (a) learning to perform a center-out reaching task by moving a passive robotic arm, and (b) learning to reach the same targets in the presence of a velocity-dependent force field.