Hand-grasping and finger tapping induced similar functional near-infrared spectroscopy cortical responses

Abstract. Despite promising advantages such as low cost and portability of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), it has yet to be widely implemented outside of basic research. Specifically, fNIRS has yet to be proven as a standalone tool within a clinical setting. The objective of this study was to assess hemodynamic concentration changes at the primary and premotor motor cortices as a result of simple whole-hand grasping and sequential finger-opposition (tapping) tasks. These tasks were repeated over 3 days in a randomized manner. Ten healthy young adults (23.8±4.8  years) participated in the study. Quantitatively, no statistically significant differences were discovered between the levels of activation for the two motor tasks (p>0.05). Overall, the signals were consistent across all 3 days. The findings show that both finger-opposition and hand grasping can be used interchangeably in fNIRS for assessment of motor function which would be useful in further advancing techniques for clinical implementation.

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