Improving fNIRS reliability: Evidence-based recommendations for motor paradigms
fNIRS is increasingly used to investigate brain activity during motor tasks due to its tolerance to motion artefacts. However, methodological guidelines for protocol design in the scope of motor tasks remain limited. This study examined key methodological factors, including headset stability, the number of trials required in block-design paradigms, and test–retest reliability. Across two studies involving finger tapping and cycling tasks, headset displacement was minimal. Results indicate that averaging at least 10 trials is necessary to obtain a robust hemodynamic response. Furthermore, fNIRS signals demonstrated high test–retest reliability. These findings provide practical recommendations to improve the robustness and reproducibility of fNIRS motor paradigm studies.
Authors
- Ségolène M. R. Guérin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0990-9408)
- J.D. Guérin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1448-1525)
- Marion Vincent (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1761-7491)
- Yvonne Delevoye (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4034-3684)
- Tatjana A. Nazir (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6313-9259)
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Université du littoral côte d'opale (FR)
- Laboratoire d'Automatique, de Mécanique et d'Informatique Industrielles et Humaines (FR)
- Délégation Régionale Nord Ouest (FR)
- Unité de Recherche Pluridisciplinaire Sport, Santé, Société (FR)
- Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives (FR)
- INSA Hauts-de-France (FR)
- Université Lille Nord de France (FR)
- Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
- Published
- 2026-10-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23263688
- Primary Topic
- Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy Techniques
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00