Jackson Cionek
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When I Miss in Real Time - My Brain Turns Theta EEG 3–8 Hz

When I Miss in Real Time - My Brain Turns Theta EEG 3–8 Hz

Paper: Kessouri, Danion, Lepage, & Bernier (2025). Neuroscience, 595, 280–289. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2025.12.065


BrainLatam Comment — First-person embodied English

I picture my body doing a fine control task in real time: my hand follows a moving target, and I’m constantly correcting the gap between “where I am” and “where the target is.”
This paper looks right at that moment: how my brain processes error during continuous movement — and what shows up in EEG when error stays high.

What they did (in the simplest way)

People performed continuous tracking with their dominant hand, following a moving target.

Two conditions:

  • Repeated: the same trajectory repeated many times (so I can learn the pattern and reduce error).

  • Random: trajectories keep changing (so error stays higher and more persistent).

They compared tracking error with EEG band power (theta, alpha, beta).

What showed up (the result that matters)

  • In the Random condition, error was higher (as expected).

  • Along with that, theta power (3–8 Hz) increased in Random compared to Repeated.

  • The peak difference appeared over left sensorimotor electrodes (which fits right-hand control).

  • And it was selective: they didn’t see the same kind of change in alpha (8–12 Hz) or beta (15–30 Hz).

EEG Theta 3–8 Hz Continuous error
EEG Theta 3–8 Hz Continuous error

How this “sounds” inside my body

When error is high and I can’t predict the pattern, I feel my system shift into a continuous monitoring mode:

“Where did I miss?” → “What do I adjust right now?”

My reading is: theta becomes a marker of that “online correction work” — the integration and communication across fronto-parietal / sensorimotor loops that keep me correcting while the movement never stops.

(Embodied note for the reader)
Try a simple version right now: trace an invisible moving dot with your finger in the air.
When the pattern is predictable, you soften.
When it becomes unpredictable, you often tighten the jaw or shorten the breath — not because you’re weak, but because the system is buying control with energy.
That’s a testable hypothesis: theta can reflect the cost of staying adaptive under unpredictability.


Three BrainLatam follow-up questions (good experiments)

  1. Theta + autonomic state:
    If I measure theta together with an autonomic marker (HRV/RMSSD), can I distinguish:
    “high error as threat/alert” vs “high error as learning/adaptation”?

  2. Fast switching:
    If I alternate predictable (Repeated) and unpredictable (Random) blocks in short bursts, does theta switch quickly like a mode toggle?

  3. Social load / divided attention:
    If I add a social task or divided attention while tracking, does sensorimotor theta keep supporting correction — or does it fail first (more error, more variability, more shortcuts)?

 

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When I Miss in Real Time - My Brain Turns Theta EEG 3–8 Hz

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EEG ERP BCI MMN P300
EEG ERP BCI MMN P300

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Jackson Cionek

New perspectives in translational control: from neurodegenerative diseases to glioblastoma | Brain States