Despite its reported effectiveness for the acquisition of motor skills, we know little about how motor imagery (MI)-based brain activation and performance evolves when MI (the imagined performance of a motor task) is used to learn a complex motor skill compared to physical practice (PP). The current study examined changes in MI-related brain activity and performance driven by an equivalent bout of MI- or PP-based training. Participants engaged in 5 days of either MI or PP of a dart-throwing task. Brain activity (via fMRI) and performance-related outcomes were obtained using a pre/post/retention design. Relative to PP, MI-based training did not drive robust changes in brain activation and was inferior for realizing improvements in performance: Greater activation in regions critical to refining the motor program was observed in the PP versus MI group posttraining, and relative to those driven via PP, MI led only to marginal improvements in performance. Findings indicate that the modality of practice (i.e., MI vs. PP) used to learn a complex motor skill manifests as differences in both resultant patterns of brain activity and performance. Ultimately, by directly comparing brain activity and behavioral outcomes after equivalent training through MI versus PP, this work provides unique knowledge regarding the neural mechanisms underlying learning through MI.

While considered analogous to physical practice, the nature of imagery-based skill acquisition—specifically whether or not both effector independent and dependent encoding occurs through motor imagery—is not well understood. Here, motor imagery-based training was applied prior to or after physical practice-based training to probe the nature of imagery-based skill acquisition. Three groups of participants (N = 38) engaged in 10 days of training of a dart throwing task: 5 days of motor imagery prior to physical practice (MIP-PP), motor imagery following physical practice (PP-MIP), or physical practice only (PP-PP). Performance-related outcomes were assessed throughout. Brain activity was measured at three time points using fMRI (pre/mid/post-training; MIP-PP and PP-MIP groups). In contrast with physical practice, motor imagery led to changes in global versus specific aspects of the movement. Following 10 days of training, performance was greater when motor imagery preceded physical practice, although remained inferior to performance resulting from physical practice alone. Greater activation of regions that support effector dependent encoding was observed mid-, but not post-training for the PP-MIP group. Findings indicate that changes driven by motor imagery reflect effector independent encoding, providing new information regarding how motor imagery may be leveraged for skill acquisition.

The present study examined relationships between lying motivations and HEXACO (honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, openness) personality traits. Participants (257 adults recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk) completed questionnaires measuring lying frequency, lying motivations, and HEXACO traits. Lying frequency was inversely correlated with honesty-humility and conscientiousness. The most common motivations for lying were for altruistic reasons, for secretive reasons, and to avoid negative evaluation. Comparatively fewer participants reported lying for pleasure (duping delight), to obtain a reward, in carelessness, or for compulsive and protective reasons. HEXACO factors were found to be associated with both self-centered and other-centered motivations for lying. These results demonstrate that individuals lie for various reasons and that personality traits may partially explain differences in lying behavior. Public Significance StatementLying is common. The results of this study suggest that people lie every day for a variety of reasons and that general personality traits, such as honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience, may partially explain individual differences in lying for both self-centered and other-centered reasons.

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