Motor and Sensory Cortical Processing of Neural Oscillatory Activities revealed by Human Swallowing using Intracranial Electrodes

Summary Swallowing, a unique movement, is attributed to the indispensable orchestration of motor-output and sensory-input. We hypothesized that swallowing can illustrate differences between motor and sensory neural processing. Eight epileptic participants fitted with intracranial electrodes over the orofacial cortex were asked to swallow a water bolus. Mouth-opening and swallowing were treated as motor tasks, while water-injection as sensory tasks. Phase-amplitude coupling between lower frequency and high γ (HG) band (75–150 Hz) was investigated. An α (10-16 Hz) -HG coupling appeared before motor-related HG power increase (burst), and a θ (5-9 Hz) -HG coupling appeared during sensory-related HG burst. The motor- and sensory-related HG amplitude were modulated at the trough of α oscillations and peak of θ oscillations, respectively. These contrasting results acquired from the orofacial cortex can help to fully elucidate the sensory-motor function in the brain.