There were three studies in this thesis. The first two involved Electroencephalogram (EEG) studies in human elbow flexor muscle eccentric and concentric contractions, and the third focused on muscular artifact reduction from EEG recordings.; In study I, experiments involving human voluntary eccentric and concentric elbow flexor contractions against a load were conducted. Surface EEG signals from four scalp locations overlying sensorimotor-related cortical areas in the frontal and parietal lobes were measured along with kinetic and kinematic information from the muscles and joints. The greater cortical signal for eccentric muscle actions suggests that the brain probably plans and programs eccentric movements differently from concentric muscle tasks.; In study II, an experiment similar with study I was performed on a Kin-Com machine, but under maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) condition. A 64-channel EEG measurement system was used to derive more detailed movement-related cortical potential (MRCP). Brain activities from different cortical areas were revealed by topographical maps of multi-channel MRCP. The results of study II was consistent with those of study I.; In study III, a new method for attenuating muscular artifact from EEG recordings was developed. The method proposed was based on the consideration that it is possible to differentiate statistically between random and correlated activities between the EMG and EEG signals. The results suggested that this new method is more effective in reducing EMG artifacts than traditional filtering methods.
展开▼
