Motor imagery training: Kinesthetic imagery strategy and inferior parietal fMRI activation

Abstract

Motor imagery (MI) is the mental simulation of action frequently used by professionals in different fields. However, with respect to performance, well-controlled functional imaging studies on MI training are sparse. We investigated changes in fMRI representation going along with performance changes of a finger sequence (error and velocity) after MI training in 48 healthy young volunteers. Before training, we tested the vividness of kinesthetic and visual imagery. During tests, participants were instructed to move or to imagine moving the fingers of the right hand in a specific order. During MI training, participants repeatedly imagined the sequence for 15 min. Imaging analysis was performed using a full-factorial design to assess brain changes due to imagery training. We also used regression analyses to identify those who profited from training (performance outcome and gain) with initial imagery scores (vividness) and fMRI activation magnitude during MI at pre-test (MI ). After training, error rate decreased and velocity increased. We combined both parameters into a common performance index. FMRI activation in the left inferior parietal lobe (IPL) was associated with MI and increased over time. In addition, fMRI activation in the right IPL during MI was associated with high initial kinesthetic vividness. High kinesthetic imagery vividness predicted a high performance after training. In contrast, occipital activation, associated with visual imagery strategies, showed a negative predictive value for performance. Our data echo the importance of high kinesthetic vividness for MI training outcome and consider IPL as a key area during MI and through MI training.

Neural tracking of speech mental imagery during rhythmic inner counting

“…This is different from the typical silent counting task used in evoking P300 responses, which largely depends on the sensory perception and anticipation of the bottom-up physical features of the stimulus. The 0.8 Hz rhythmic mental operation activated the region of the left IOG, which is reported to be associated with verbal representation (Saito et al, 2012) and memory maintenance in numeral processing (Daitch et al, 2016), and the region of the right IPL, which is associated with auditory working memory (Paulesu et al, 1993) and has also been proposed to be activated in imagined singing and imagined movement (Kleber et al, 2007; Lebon et al, 2018). In addition, our study shows that the ventral PrG and PoG are also activated during the construction of speech imagery, which is consistent with previous findings that stronger activation of the sensorimotor cortex induced by articulatory imagery than hearing imagery (Tian et al, 2016) and the direct neural signal from the sensorimotor cortex contributed to the decoding of imagined speech and silent reading (Martin et al, 2014; Martin et al, 2016).…”

Thumbs up: Imagined hand movements counteract the adverse effects of post-surgical hand immobilization. Clinical, behavioral, and fMRI longitudinal observations

“…2 Other more recent studies, found that while physical practice is associated with increased activation in premotor regions and cerebellum (e.g., SMA and cerebellum in Nyberg et al, 2006; ventral premotor cortex, BA 6/44 in Olsson et al, 2008b) or decreased activation of the posterior parietal cortex (Olsson et al, 2008a), M.I. training of motor sequences is associated with a specific increased activity in the parietal cortex (Lebon et al, 2018) or in the visual occipital cortex (BA 18 in Nyberg et al, 2006; fusiform gyrus, BA 19, in Olsson et al, 2008b). Increased activity in the fusiform gyrus was also found by Zhang and coworkers in both motor execution and motor imagery tasks after a 2-week of motor imagery training (Zhang et al, 2011).…”

Aberrant Brain Spontaneous Activity and Synchronization in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients: A Resting-State Functional MRI Study

“…To better understand the dysfunction of the T2DM brain, it is essential to consider how the brain regions work together rather than studying them in isolation. On the one hand, high visual cortex recruitment predicted poor motor execution, which was represented by the strong activation of the inferior parietal cortex (Lebon et al, 2018). The caudate nucleus subserves not only the complex regulation of mood but also the executive function (Yang et al, 2015;Huang et al, 2016).…”