Abstract / Summary
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.