Increases in Midline and Frontal Theta Reflect the Degree of Cognitive Control Required During Continuous Motor Performance When Explicitly Monitoring Output

Monitoring performance while performing an action tends to disrupt performance. Researchers suggest performance disruption may be driven by explicit monitoring which turns an automated task into a serial task, thereby increasing the need for explicit control. Here, we used EEG to measure changes in frontal and midline theta while participants typed four-letter words normally (low-monitoring) or using only the left or right hand (high-monitoring). We observed significant increase in midline theta for high- compared to low-monitoring trials, followed by an increase in frontal theta. These findings suggest that dynamic changes in cognitive control occur during continuous performance