Analysis of Electroencephalography Event-Related Desynchronisation and Synchronisation Induced by Lower-Limb Stepping Motor Imagery

Bilateral upper-limb motor imagery has been demonstrated to be a useful mental task in electroencephalography (EEG)-based brain–computer interfaces (BCIs). By contrast, few studies have examined bilateral lower-limb motor imagery, and all of them have focused on imaginary foot movements. The left–right classification accuracy reported in these studies based on the EEG mu rhythm (8–13 Hz) and beta band (13–30 Hz) remains unsatisfactory. The present study investigated the possibility of using lower-limb stepping motor imagery as the mental task and analysed the EEG difference between imaginary left-leg stepping (L-stepping) and right-leg stepping (R-stepping) movements. An experimental paradigm was designed to collect 5-s motor imagery EEG signals at nine recording sites around the vertex of the brain. Results from eight able-bodied participants indicated that the commonly used mu event-related desynchronisation (ERD) feature exhibited no significant difference between the two imaginary movements for all recording sites and all time intervals within the 5-s motor imagery period. Regarding the other commonly used feature, beta event-related synchronisation, no significant difference between the two imagery tasks was observed for most of the recording sites and time intervals. Instead, theta band (4–8 Hz) ERD significantly differed between the L- and R-stepping imagery tasks at five sites (FC4, C3, CP3, Cz, CPz) within the first 2 s after motor imagery cue onset. The findings from the present study may be a basis for further development of BCI systems for decoding left and right stepping during mental exercise where the two motions are alternately imagined.