Review
Cognitive motor processes: The role of motor imagery in the study of motor representations

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Abstract

Motor imagery is viewed as a window to cognitive motor processes and particularly to motor control. Mental simulation theory [Jeannerod, M., 2001. Neural simulation of action: a unifying mechanism for motor cognition. NeuroImage 14, 103–109] stresses that cognitive motor processes such as motor imagery and action observation share the same representations as motor execution. This article presents an overview of motor imagery studies in cognitive psychology and neuroscience that support and extend predictions from mental simulation theory. In general, behavioral data as well as fMRI and TMS data demonstrate that motor areas in the brain play an important role in motor imagery. After discussing results on a close overlap between mental and actual performance durations, the review focuses specifically on studies reporting an activation of primary motor cortex during motor imagery. This focus is extended to studies on motor imagery in patients. Motor imagery is also analyzed in more applied fields such as mental training procedures in patients and athletes. These findings support the notion that mental training procedures can be applied as a therapeutic tool in rehabilitation and in applications for power training.

Section snippets

Introduction: motor imagery as a window for observing neural processes of action performance

Motor imagery has been studied in both applied cognitive psychology and neurophysiology. However, up to now, these two disparate fields have paid little attention to each other's research, although research on the use of imagery procedures in applied cognitive psychology might well help to find categories with which to evaluate the results of basic research on motor imagery within neurophysiology. Nonetheless, before we can ask what applied cognitive psychology and neurophysiology can learn

Similarity of mental and actual durations of movements

A strong argument for the relevance of motor representations in motor imagery comes from the similar durations found when participants perform the same movements either actively or mentally (Decety, 1996b, Jeannerod, 1994). This argument starts by assuming that durations will be similar if both active and mental performance rely on the same motor representation. According to mental simulation theory, this implies an activation of motor processes for mental simulation as well.

Decety et al. (1989)

Neural correlates of motor imagery: brain imaging studies

One central issue, as noted above, is the activation of cortical and subcortical areas during motor imagery. Motor areas of the cerebral cortex are subdivided into primary motor cortex (M1) and several premotor areas, including the supplementary motor area (SMA), presupplementary motor area (pre-SMA), and ventral and dorsal parts of the premotor cortex (PMC). These cortical motor areas are linked closely to the cerebellum and the basal ganglia, thereby creating feedback loops (Krakauer and

Motor imagery in stroke patients

Due to the overlap of the neural circuitries involved in motor imagery and motor execution, lesions of these areas and loops should lead to a deficit in both processes. Indeed, comparisons between healthy participants and stroke patients indicate such a relationship, and several studies have demonstrated an impairment of motor imagery after a stroke incident. For example, one repeated observation has been a parallel slowing of real and imagined movement after stroke (Gonzáles et al., 2005,

Applications of mental training for learning motor skills in sports

Mental practice of motor behavior such as the systematic and repetitive use of imagery is regarded as a powerful tool to enhance skill learning in sports. Several meta-analyses have revealed a systematic, but moderate effect of mental training on motor learning (Driskell et al., 1994, Feltz and Landers, 1983, Feltz et al., 1988, Hinshaw, 1991–1992, Richardson, 1967a, Richardson, 1967b). Different mediators have been identified that influence the mental training/performance relationship. Skill

Conclusion

Neuroscientific studies confirm a profound and reproducible effect of motor imagery on the neural activation of motor areas and, in the context of power training, on behavioral learning. Effects of motor imagery on motor learning are not restricted to laboratory tasks but are also found for applications in physical therapy. In particular, training regimes with applications of mental training for stroke patients have demonstrated a reasonable degree of effectiveness (Page et al., 2001).

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