Comparison of the on-line effects of different motor simulation conditions on corticospinal excitability in healthy participants

Abstract

In healthy participants, corticospinal excitability is known to increase during motor simulations such as motor imagery (MI), action observation (AO) and mirror therapy (MT), suggesting their interest to promote plasticity in neurorehabilitation. Further comparing these methods and investigating their combination may potentially provide clues to optimize their use in patients. To this end, we compared in 18 healthy participants abductor pollicis brevis (APB) corticospinal excitability during MI, AO or MT, as well as MI combined with either AO or MT. In each condition, 15 motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) and three maximal M-wave were elicited in the right APB. Compared to the control condition, mean normalized MEP amplitude (i.e. MEP/M) increased during MI (P = .003), MT (P < .001) and MT + MI (P < .001), without any difference between the three conditions. No MEP modulation was evidenced during AO or AO + MI. Because MI provided no additional influence when combined with AO or MT, our results may suggest that, in healthy subjects, visual feedback and unilateral movement with a mirror may provide the greatest effects among all the tested motor simulations.

Action Observation and Motor Imagery as a Treatment in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

“…The activation of the MNS is also greater when the observed actions are part of the individual's motor repertoire [39]. -Goal-Directed Transitive Actions: Actions involving interaction with objects and having a clear goal are associated with greater activation of the MNS [40] compared to movements out of context [41]. This is because goal-directed movements are abstractly encoded based on their goal, regardless of the effector used to accomplish them [42].…”