Gender Differences in Quantitative Electroencephalogram During a Simple Hand Movement Task in Young Adults.

BACKGROUND: No consensus has been reached regarding the existence of gender differences during motor tasks in electroencephalography. This could lead to misinterpretation of electroencephalography clinical diagnosis and affect the calibration of brain-computer interfaces.

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether there are statistically significant gender differences in electroencephalography recorded during hand movements.

METHODS: Electroencephalography data were recorded from 18 women and 18 men while performing hand movements and rest. Electroencephalography power was computed for alpha (8-13 Hz), beta (14-30 Hz), and a broader band including alpha and beta (8-30 Hz) using wavelet transform. Statistical analysis was done using a General Linear Model for repeated measurements (α = 0.05). Additionally, topographic maps were computed for each gender.

RESULTS: Significant gender differences were found for the rest condition in all analyzed bands. For the hand movement tasks, gender differences were mainly found in the beta band and located in temporoparietal areas. Power decrease observed in topographic maps was located in the centro-parietal areas for females and the centro-frontal areas for males. Additionally, greater power decreases were observed for women in all analyzed frequency bands.

CONCLUSION: Electroencephalography parameters used for the diagnosis of neuromotor diseases, as well as for brain-computer interface calibration, must take gender into account.