Sex differences in implicit motor imagery: Evidence from the hand laterality task

Conson, Massimiliano; Bellis, Francesco De; Baiano, Chiara; Zappullo, Isa; Raimo, Gennaro; Finelli, Carmela; Ruggiero, Ines; Positano, Monica; Trojano, Luigi

doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2020.103010

Cited by 15 publications

(34 citation statements)

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“…The present study explored whether and how the extent of participants' autistic traits and body appreciation affect the performance of implicit and explicit hand recognition tasks in a TD population, divided by sex (cf. Mochizuki et al, 2019;Conson et al, 2020). In addition, we investigated whether the results of visual recognition tasks (i.e., laterality judgment and self-other discrimination tasks) in previous studies (e.g., Ferri et al, 2011;Conson et al, 2015) would be replicated, even if the number of orientation conditions of the hand image was limited to two (i.e., upright and upside-down).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Specifically, longer RTs for hand laterality judgments were shown when participants were holding both hands behind their back than when the same task was performed with both hands placed on their knees. The biomechanical effect is stronger when the hands were presented from palm than from back, because physically rotating palms is assumed to be more difficult than rotating backs of hands (Sekiyama, 1982;Parsons, 1987Parsons, , 1994Gentilucci et al, 1998;ter Horst et al, 2010;Bläsing et al, 2013;Zapparoli et al, 2014;Conson et al, 2020). These results indicate that hand laterality judgment tasks involve implicit motor imagery processes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…The explicit task requires a mere visual representation of one's own body (Frassinetti et al, 2011;Conson et al, 2015); therefore, this result was caused by women's inferior performance in visual mental rotation (Linn and Petersen, 1985;Voyer et al, 1995;Collins and Kimura, 1997), in addition to visual unfamiliarity with self-image from an allocentric view. Concerning the women's strategy in the hand laterality judgment task, Conson et al (2020) recently investigated these using images of the backs and palms of hands. It is said that hand images viewed from the back often induce a visual strategy, while images viewed from the palm induce a motor strategy in the classical hand laterality task (Sekiyama, 1982;Parsons, 1987Parsons, , 1994Gentilucci et al, 1998;ter Horst et al, 2010;Bläsing et al, 2013;Zapparoli et al, 2014;Conson et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With the above mind, we wondered whether and how sex difference affects the performance of implicit and explicit hand recognition tasks, even in those populations in which people have not been diagnosed. Indeed, Mochizuki et al (2019) and Conson et al (2020) recently investigated the effect of sex differences on the performance of a classical hand laterality judgment task, but the effect of sex differences on the performance of implicit and explicit hand recognition tasks (using self-and other-hand images) remains an open question. Answering this question will contribute to our further understanding of selfother discrimination and body part recognition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Visual Hand Recognition in Hand Laterality and Self-Other Discrimination Tasks: Relationships to Autistic Traits and Positive Body Image

Kuroki

Fukui

2020

Front. Psychol.

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In a study concerning visual body part recognition, a “self-advantage” effect, whereby self-related body stimuli are processed faster and more accurately than other-related body stimuli, was revealed, and the emergence of this effect is assumed to be tightly linked to implicit motor simulation, which is activated when performing a hand laterality judgment task in which hand ownership is not explicitly required. Here, we ran two visual hand recognition tasks, namely, a hand laterality judgment task and a self-other discrimination task, to investigate (i) whether the self-advantage emerged even if implicit motor imagery was assumed to be working less efficiently and (ii) how individual traits [such as autistic traits and the extent of positive self-body image, as assessed via the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) and the Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2), respectively] modulate performance in these hand recognition tasks. Participants were presented with hand images in two orientations [i.e., upright (egocentric) and upside-down (allocentric)] and asked to judge whether it was a left or right hand (an implicit hand laterality judgment task). They were also asked to determine whether it was their own, or another person’s hand (an explicit self-other discrimination task). Data collected from men and women were analyzed separately. The self-advantage effect in the hand laterality judgment task was not revealed, suggesting that only two orientation conditions are not enough to trigger this motor simulation. Furthermore, the men’s group showed a significant positive correlation between AQ scores and reaction times (RTs) in the laterality judgment task, while the women’s group showed a significant negative correlation between AQ scores and differences in RTs and a significant positive correlation between BAS-2 scores and dprime in the self-other discrimination task. These results suggest that men and women differentially adopt specific strategies and/or execution processes for implicit and explicit hand recognition tasks.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Visual Hand Recognition in Hand Laterality and Self-Other Discrimination Tasks: Relationships to Autistic Traits and Positive Body Image

Kuroki

Fukui

2020

Front. Psychol.

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“…It requires participants to decide whether a visually presented stimulus in a given angular orientation portrays a left or a right hand [19,20]. Both classical and recent studies have demonstrated that this task implies the automatic activation of mental simulation of actions (i.e., motor imagery) [19][20][21], but several studies have shown that visual imagery can be recruited too when people make hand laterality judgments [22][23][24][25][26]. A fine-grain analysis of task performance can reveal differences between visual and motor strategies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implicit Motor Imagery and the Lateral Occipitotemporal Cortex: Hints for Tailoring Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation

Conson

Cecere

Baiano

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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Background: Recent evidence has converged in showing that the lateral occipitotemporal cortex is over-recruited during implicit motor imagery in elderly and in patients with neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease. These data suggest that when automatically imaging movements, individuals exploit neural resources in the visual areas to compensate for the decline in activating motor representations. Thus, the occipitotemporal cortex could represent a cortical target of non-invasive brain stimulation combined with cognitive training to enhance motor imagery performance. Here, we aimed at shedding light on the role of the left and right lateral occipitotemporal cortex in implicit motor imagery. Methods: We applied online, high-frequency, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the left and right lateral occipitotemporal cortex while healthy right-handers judged the laterality of hand images. Results: With respect to the sham condition, left hemisphere stimulation specifically reduced accuracy in judging the laterality of right-hand images. Instead, the hallmark of motor simulation, i.e., the biomechanical effect, was never influenced by rTMS. Conclusions: The lateral occipitotemporal cortex seems to be involved in mental representation of the dominant hand, at least in right-handers, but not in reactivating sensorimotor information during simulation. These findings provide useful hints for developing combined brain stimulation and behavioural trainings to improve motor imagery.

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Mental rotation of hands and objects in ageing and Parkinson’s disease: differentiating motor imagery and visuospatial ability

et al. 2022

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Motor imagery supports motor learning and performance and has the potential to be a useful strategy for neurorehabilitation. However, motor imagery ability may be impacted by ageing and neurodegeneration, which could limit its therapeutic effectiveness. Motor imagery can be assessed implicitly using a hand laterality task (HLT), whereby laterality judgements are slower for stimuli corresponding to physically more difficult postures, as indicated by a “biomechanical constraint” effect. Performance is also found to differ between back and palm views of the hand, which may differentially recruit visual and sensorimotor processes. Older adults and individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) have shown altered performance on the HLT; however, the effects of both ageing and PD on laterality judgements for the different hand views (back and palm) have not been directly examined. The present study compared healthy younger, healthy older, and PD groups on the HLT, an object-based mental rotation task, and an explicit motor imagery measure. The older and PD groups were slower than the younger group on the HLT, particularly when judging laterality from the back view, and exhibited increased biomechanical constraint effects for the palm. While response times were generally similar between older and PD groups, the PD group showed reduced accuracy for the back view. Letter rotation was slower and less accurate only in the PD group, while explicit motor imagery ratings did not differ significantly between groups. These results suggest that motor imagery may be slowed but relatively preserved in both typical ageing and neurodegeneration, while a PD-specific impairment in visuospatial processing may influence task performance. The findings have implications for the use of motor imagery in rehabilitation protocols.

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Sex differences in implicit motor imagery: Evidence from the hand laterality task

Cited by 15 publications

References 50 publications

Visual Hand Recognition in Hand Laterality and Self-Other Discrimination Tasks: Relationships to Autistic Traits and Positive Body Image

Visual Hand Recognition in Hand Laterality and Self-Other Discrimination Tasks: Relationships to Autistic Traits and Positive Body Image

Implicit Motor Imagery and the Lateral Occipitotemporal Cortex: Hints for Tailoring Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation

Mental rotation of hands and objects in ageing and Parkinson’s disease: differentiating motor imagery and visuospatial ability

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