There is increasing interest in the role of brain oscillations in the regulation and control of behavior. The current study examined the relations between specific cognitive abilities and changes in brain oscillatory activity during anticipation of, and in response to, tactile stimulation of the hand. The oscillation of interest was the sensorimotor mu rhythm (8-14 Hz) at central electrode sites. The electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded during a task in which a visuospatial cue directed adults (N = 40) that a tactile stimulus would be delivered to their left or right hand. Lateralized changes in mu power following tactile stimulation were associated with reaction time to the tactile stimulus. The extent of a contralateral anticipatory reduction in mu power during the 500 ms before the tactile stimulus was associated with performance on a separate processing speed task. Changes in ipsilateral mu power during anticipation of the tactile stimulus were associated with performance on a flanker task and were marginally correlated with performance on a card sort task. Regression analyses further indicated the specificity of these relations to anticipatory changes in mu power. In summary, mu rhythm modulation during anticipation of tactile stimulation to a specific bodily location was related to a broad measure of processing speed and to variability in the broader ability to regulate behavior in a goal-directed manner. Implications are discussed in terms of the foundational role of anticipatory attention in cognitive processes and the utility of selective attention to the body as an index of attentional control more broadly.

人们对大脑振荡在行为调节和控制中的作用越来越感兴趣。当前的研究检查了特定认知能力与在预期和响应手部触觉刺激期间大脑振荡活动变化之间的关系。感兴趣的振荡是中央电极部位的感觉运动 mu 节律 (8-14 Hz)。在一项任务中记录脑电图 (EEG)，其中视觉空间提示指示成年人 (N = 40) 将触觉刺激传递到他们的左手或右手。触觉刺激后 mu 功率的侧向变化与对触觉刺激的反应时间有关。在触觉刺激之前的 500 毫秒内，对侧 μ 功率的预期降低程度与单独处理速度任务的性能有关。预期触觉刺激期间同侧 mu 功率的变化与侧翼任务的表现相关，并与卡片分类任务的表现略有相关。回归分析进一步表明，这些关系对亩权力的预期变化具有特殊性。总之，在预期对特定身体位置的触觉刺激期间，mu 节律调制与处理速度的广泛测量以及以目标导向的方式调节行为的更广泛能力的可变性有关。