DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.30278866.v1
title: <b>EEG of sedentary women and amateur female handball players</b>

description: <b>Ethical Information</b>Registrations were conducted at the Eastern Regional University Center (CURE), Maldonado, Uruguay, between December 15 and 30, 2023. All participants voluntarily participated in the study, and ethical procedures for data collection were followed, including compliance with Uruguay's Personal Data Protection Law No. 18,331 and the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki. All participants signed informed consent, and the research protocol was approved by the University's ethics committee.<br><br><b>Participants</b>The sample consisted of 20 female participants (handball players n = 10 and sedentary women n = 10). A criterion-based method was used for participant selection. The mean age of participants was 26 ± 5 years, and all had tertiary or university education. Selection criteria: All participants were healthy (with a valid medical certificate), did not use any medications or stimulants, and were right-handed. The group of players consisted of members of an amateur women's handball team from Maldonado, Uruguay. None of the players had a history of professional competition, and they had been practicing the sport for between 6 and 24 months. They trained three times a week, with one-hour sessions, and competed in local league matches on weekends. Amateur handball participants were prospectively classified as Level 1 (Recreational Activity) according to the standardized Participant Classification Framework by McKay et al. [1]. To minimize differences between groups related to educational level, age, and other intervening sociodemographic variables, the players were asked to invite a close friend who met the following inclusion criteria: not having participated in handball or engaged in regular physical activity for at least two years, being healthy (with a valid medical certificate), having an equivalent educational level, an age difference of no more than 18 months, and being right-handed. In addition, the Physical Activity Index Questionnaire (PAQ) was administered to assess participants' sedentary behavior [2].<br>Physical activity characteristics of sedentary participants (n = 10) assessed using the IPAQMean Variable Range ± SD Median (IQR)Total PA (MET-min/week) 356.2 ± 128.4 340.5 (250-420) 210-580Sitting time (min/day) 540.6 ± 89.3 555 (480-600) 420-660Walking (MET-min/week) 158.4 ± 75.2 140 (100-200) 80-300Moderate PA (MET-min/week) 89.7 ± 62.3 80 (40-120) 0-180Vigorous PA (MET-min/week) 0 ± 0 0 (0-0) 0-0PA Categories (n)- Low/Sedentary 10 (100%)- Moderate 0 (0%)- High 0 (0%)PA = Physical Activity; MET = Metabolic Equivalent of Task; IQR = Interquartile Range. All values ​​conform to the IPAQ scoring protocol of Craig et al. [2]. Sedentary behavior is defined as &lt;600 MET-min/week of total PA + &gt;480 min/day of sitting time.<br><br><b>Experimental Protocol</b>All experimental sessions took place at the same time of day in an acoustically isolated room with an average temperature of 25°C. The protocol followed the following sequence: the participant sat in front of a 16-inch handheld display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080, located at a distance of 50 cm. The display displayed standard EEG recording instructions, such as remaining relaxed and blinking as little as possible. EEG recordings were made continuously during a simple motor task paradigm, which included the following tasks: relaxed hands (pr), right fist (pdc), left fist (pic), imaginary right fist (pdi), and imaginary left fist (pii). These tasks were selected to avoid biases related to differences in coordination or motor skill between participant groups. Additionally, EEG recordings were made under open (oa) and closed-eye (oc) conditions, as well as during video viewing of handball actions (video) and a blue screen (pa). The tasks were displayed on the screen in random order, were repeated five times each (to minimize the influence of the order of execution), and lasted ten seconds each.<br><br><b>EEG Recordings</b>EEG signals were recorded using an EMOTIV PRO X device [3] with 14 electrodes (AF3, F3, F7, FC5, T7, P7, O1, AF4, F4, F8, FC6, T8, P8, O2), placed according to the standard 10/20 system, and two reference electrodes placed on the mastoid processes on each side. The device had a 16-bit resolution, a sampling rate of 128 Hz, and a bandwidth of 0.2 to 45 Hz [4]. The recording and task sequence were automated using Psychopy software, version 2.3.<br><br><b>Dataset description</b>The dataset consists of 40 files, 20 of which are EEG recordings (1c, 2c...; 1h, 2h...) and 20 of the associated time stamps (1c_IntervalMarker...; 1h_IntervalMarker...). The files are identified by numbers (1 to 10) and by h (handball player) and c (control subject).<br><br><b>References</b>McKay, A. K. A., Stellingwerff, T., Smith, E. S., Martin, D. T., Mujika, I., Goosey-Tolfrey, V. L., Sheppard, J., & Burke, L. M. (2022). Defining Training and Performance Caliber: A Participant Classification Framework. <i>International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance</i>, <i>17</i>(2), 317–331. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2021-0451Craig, C. L., Marshall, A. L., Sjöström, M., Bauman, A. E., Booth, M. L., Ainsworth, B. E., Pratt, M., Ekelund, U., Yngve, A., Sallis, J. F., & Oja, P. (2003). International physical activity questionnaire: 12-Country reliability and validity. <i>Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise</i>, <i>35</i>(8), 1381–1395. https://doi.org/10.1249/01.MSS.0000078924.61453.FBRaufi, B., & Longo, L. (2022). An Evaluation of the EEG Alpha-to-Theta and Theta-to-Alpha Band Ratios as Indexes of Mental Workload. <i>Frontiers in Neuroinformatics</i>, <i>16</i>. https://doi.org/10.3389/fninf.2022.861967Çotuk, H. B., Duru, A. D., & Aktaş, Ş. (2019). Monitoring Autonomic and Central Nervous System Activity by Permutation Entropy during Short Sojourn in Antarctica. <i>Entropy</i>, <i>21</i>(9), 893. https://doi.org/10.3390/e21090893