Natural finger-tapping tempo reflects intrinsic neuropsychological characteristics

Abstract Individuals have unique natural tempos in daily activities such as walking and speaking, with significant variability. It remains largely unknown how our brains generate and represent these unique tempos to modulate various sensory-motor functions. We propose that natural tempo differs from externally imposed tempos and is associated with intrinsic brain functions. Using EEG, we monitored brain activity while participants performed spontaneous and constrained finger-tapping tasks. Results show that individuals have consistent and unique natural tapping tempos. The peak frequency of delta/theta brainwaves in the motor cortex aligns with each person's motor tempo. Tapping at natural tempos led to decreased cognitive control and increased relaxation, evidenced by lower frontal error negativity (Ne)-like amplitude, higher parietal alpha power, and increased DMN activity. Additionally, natural tempo was negatively correlated with individual alpha peak frequency (IAPF), frontal Ne-like amplitude, and DMN source activity. These findings suggest that natural motor tempo is a stable cognitive "fingerprint" of brain activity.