Motor imagery enhances performance beyond the imagined action

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Gippert, Magdalena; Shih, Pei-Cheng; Heed, Tobias; Howard, Ian S.; Idaji, Mina Jamshidi; Villringer, Arno; Sehm, Bernhard; Nikulin, Vadim V.
• 署名单位: Max Planck Society; Salzburg University; Salzburg University; University of Plymouth; Technical University of Berlin; Martin Luther University Halle Wittenberg
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-11728
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2423642122
• 发表日期: 2025-05-20
• 关键词: dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; brain; execution; movements; excitability; inhibition; adaptation; activation; simulation; mechanism

摘要

Motor imagery is frequently utilized to improve the performance of specific target movements in sports and rehabilitation. In this study, we show that motor imagery can facilitate learning of not only the imagined target movements but also sequentially linked overt movements. Hybrid sequences comprising imagined and physically executed segments allowed participants to learn specific movement characteristics of the executed segments when they were consistently associated with specific imagined segments. Electrophysiological recordings revealed that the degree of event-related synchronization in the alpha and beta bands during a basic motor imagery task was correlated with imagery-evoked motor learning. Thus, both behavioral and neural evidence indicate that motor imagery's benefits extend beyond the imagined movements, improving performance in linked overt movements. This provides decisive evidence for the functional equivalence of imagined and overt movements and suggests applications for imagery in sports and rehabilitation.