Positive Technology Journal

Effect of Motor Imagery in the Rehabilitation of Burn Patients.

J Burn Care Res. 2009 Jun 5;

Authors: Guillot A, Lebon F, Vernay M, Girbon JP, Doyon J, Collet C

Although there is ample evidence that motor imagery (MI) improves motor performance after CNS injury, it is still unknown whether MI may enhance motor recovery after peripheral injury and most especially in the rehabilitation of burn patients. This study aimed to investigate the effects of a 2-week MI training program combined with conventional rehabilitation on the recovery of motor functions in handed burn patients. Fourteen patients admitted to the Medical Burn Center were requested to take part in the study and were randomly assigned to the imagery or the control group. Behavioral data related to the ability to perform each successive step of three manual motor sequences were collected at five intervals during the medical procedure. The results provided evidence that MI may facilitate motor recovery, and the belief in the effectiveness of MI was strong in all patients. MI may substantially contribute to improve the efficacy of conventional rehabilitation programs. Hence, this technique should be considered as a reliable alternative method to help burn patients to recover motor functions.

How does visual thinking work in the mind of a person with autism? A personal account.

Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2009 May 27;364(1522):1437-42

Authors: Grandin T

My mind is similar to an Internet search engine that searches for photographs. I use language to narrate the photo-realistic pictures that pop up in my imagination. When I design equipment for the cattle industry, I can test run it in my imagination similar to a virtual reality computer program. All my thinking is associative and not linear. To form concepts, I sort pictures into categories similar to computer files. To form the concept of orange, I see many different orange objects, such as oranges, pumpkins, orange juice and marmalade. I have observed that there are three different specialized autistic/Asperger cognitive types. They are: (i) visual thinkers such as I who are often poor at algebra, (ii) pattern thinkers such as Daniel Tammet who excel in math and music but may have problems with reading or writing composition, and (iii) verbal specialists who are good at talking and writing but they lack visual skills.

Neurofeedback-based motor imagery training for brain-computer interface (BCI).

J Neurosci Methods. 2009 Apr 30;179(1):150-156

Authors: Hwang HJ, Kwon K, Im CH

In the present study, we propose a neurofeedback-based motor imagery training system for EEG-based brain-computer interface (BCI). The proposed system can help individuals get the feel of motor imagery by presenting them with real-time brain activation maps on their cortex. Ten healthy participants took part in our experiment, half of whom were trained by the suggested training system and the others did not use any training. All participants in the trained group succeeded in performing motor imagery after a series of trials to activate their motor cortex without any physical movements of their limbs. To confirm the effect of the suggested system, we recorded EEG signals for the trained group around sensorimotor cortex while they were imagining either left or right hand movements according to our experimental design, before and after the motor imagery training. For the control group, we also recorded EEG signals twice without any training sessions. The participants' intentions were then classified using a time-frequency analysis technique, and the results of the trained group showed significant differences in the sensorimotor rhythms between the signals recorded before and after training. Classification accuracy was also enhanced considerably in all participants after motor imagery training, compared to the accuracy before training. On the other hand, the analysis results for the control EEG data set did not show consistent increment in both the number of meaningful time-frequency combinations and the classification accuracy, demonstrating that the suggested system can be used as a tool for training motor imagery tasks in BCI applications. Further, we expect that the motor imagery training system will be useful not only for BCI applications, but for functional brain mapping studies that utilize motor imagery tasks as well.

Facilitation of motor imagery through movement-related cueing.

Brain Res. 2009 Apr 27;

Authors: Heremans E, Helsen WF, De Poel HJ, Alaerts K, Meyns P, Feys P

In the past few years, the use of motor imagery as an adjunct to other forms of training has been studied extensively. However, very little attention has been paid to how imagery could be used to greatest effect. It is well known that the provision of external cues has a beneficial effect on motor skill acquisition and performance during physical practice. Since physical execution and mental imagery share several common mechanisms, we hypothesized that motor imagery might be affected by external cues in a similar way. To examine this, we compared the motor imagery performance of three groups of 15 healthy participants who either physically performed or imagined performing a goal-directed cyclical wrist movement in the presence or the absence of visual and/or auditory external cues. As outcome measures, the participants' imagery vividness scores and eye movements were measured during all conditions. We found that visual movement-related cues improved the spatial accuracy of the participants' eye movements during imagery, while auditory cues specifically enhanced their temporal accuracy. Furthermore, both types of cues significantly improved the participants' imagery vividness. These findings indicate that subjects may imagine a movement in a better way when provided with external movement-related stimuli, which may possibly be useful with regard to the efficiency of mental practice in (clinical) training protocols.

Development of hierarchical structures for actions and motor imagery: a constructivist view from synthetic neuro-robotics study.

Psychol Res. 2009 Apr 8;

Authors: Nishimoto R, Tani J

The current paper shows a neuro-robotics experiment on developmental learning of goal-directed actions. The robot was trained to predict visuo-proprioceptive flow of achieving a set of goal-directed behaviors through iterative tutor training processes. The learning was conducted by employing a dynamic neural network model which is characterized by their multiple time-scale dynamics. The experimental results showed that functional hierarchical structures emerge through stages of developments where behavior primitives are generated in earlier stages and their sequences of achieving goals appear in later stages. It was also observed that motor imagery is generated in earlier stages compared to actual behaviors. Our claim that manipulatable inner representation should emerge through the sensory-motor interactions is corresponded to Piaget's constructivist view.

Improving the performance of brain-computer interface through meditation practicing.

Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2008;1:662-5

Authors: Eskandari P, Erfanian A

Cognitive tasks using motor imagery have been used for generating and controlling EEG activity in most brain-computer interface (BCI). Nevertheless, during the performance of a particular mental task, different factors such as concentration, attention, level of consciousness and the difficulty of the task, may be affecting the changes in the EEG activity. Accordingly, training the subject to consistently and reliably produce and control the changes in the EEG signals is a critical issue in developing a BCI system. In this work, we used meditation practice to enhance the mind controllability during the performance of a mental task in a BCI system. The mental states to be discriminated are the imaginative hand movement and the idle state. The experiments were conducted on two groups of subject, meditation group and control group. The time-frequency analysis of EEG signals for meditation practitioners showed an event-related desynchronization (ERD) of beta rhythm before imagination during resting state. In addition, a strong event-related synchronization (ERS) of beta rhythm was induced in frequency around 25 Hz during hand motor imagery. The results demonstrated that the meditation practice can improve the classification accuracy of EEG patterns. The average classification accuracy was 88.73% in the meditation group, while it was 70.28% in the control group. An accuracy as high as 98.0% was achieved in the meditation group.

Motor Representations and Practice Affect Brain Systems Underlying Imagery: An fMRI Study of Internal Imagery in Novices and Active High Jumpers.

Open Neuroimag J. 2008;2:5-13

Authors: Olsson CJ, Jonsson B, Larsson A, Nyberg L

This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate differences in brain activity between one group of active high jumpers and one group of high jumping novices (controls) when performing motor imagery of a high jump. It was also investigated how internal imagery training affects neural activity. The results showed that active high jumpers primarily activated motor areas, e.g. pre-motor cortex and cerebellum. Novices activated visual areas, e.g. superior occipital cortex. Imagery training resulted in a reduction of activity in parietal cortex. These results indicate that in order to use an internal perspective during motor imagery of a complex skill, one must have well established motor representations of the skill which then translates into a motor/internal pattern of brain activity. If not, an external perspective will be used and the corresponding brain activation will be a visual/external pattern. Moreover, the findings imply that imagery training reduces the activity in parietal cortex suggesting that imagery is performed more automatic and results in a more efficient motor representation more easily accessed during motor performance.

Sleep-related improvements in motor learning following mental practice.

Brain Cogn. 2008 Oct 4;

Authors: Debarnot U, Creveaux T, Collet C, Gemignani A, Massarelli R, Doyon J, Guillot A

A wide range of experimental studies have provided evidence that a night of sleep may enhance motor performance following physical practice (PP), but little is known, however, about its effect after motor imagery (MI). Using an explicitly learned pointing task paradigm, thirty participants were assigned to one of three groups that differed in the training method (PP, MI, and control groups). The physical performance was measured before training (pre-test), as well as before (post-test 1) and after a night of sleep (post-test 2). The time taken to complete the pointing tasks, the number of errors and the kinematic trajectories were the dependent variables. As expected, both the PP and the MI groups improved their performance during the post-test 1. The MI group was further found to enhance motor performance after sleep, hence suggesting that sleep-related effects are effective following mental practice. Such findings highlight the reliability of MI in learning process, which is thought consolidated when associated with sleep.

Home-based motor imagery training for gait rehabilitation of people with chronic poststroke hemiparesis.

Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2008 Aug;89(8):1580-8

Authors: Dunsky A, Dickstein R, Marcovitz E, Levy S, Deutsch J

Does erotic stimulus presentation design affect brain activation patterns? Event-related vs. blocked fMRI designs.

Behav Brain Funct. 2008 Jul 22;4(1):30

Authors: Buehler M, Vollstaedt-Klein S, Klemen J, Smolka MN

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Existing brain imaging studies, investigating sexual arousal via the presentation of erotic pictures or film excerpts, have mainly used blocked designs with long stimulus presentation times. METHODS: To clarify how experimental functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) design affects stimulus-induced brain activity, we compared brief event-related presentation of erotic vs. neutral stimuli with blocked presentation in 10 male volunteers. RESULTS: Brain activation differed depending on design type in only 10% of the voxels showing task related brain activity. Differences between blocked and event-related stimulus presentation were found in occipitotemporal and temporal regions (Brodmann Area (BA) 19, 37, 48), parietal areas (BA 7, 40) and areas in the frontal lobe (BA 6, 44). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that event-related designs might be a potential alternative when the core interest is the detection of networks associated with immediate processing of erotic stimuli. Additionally, blocked, compared to event-related, stimulus presentation allows the emergence and detection of non-specific secondary processes, such as sustained attention, motor imagery and inhibition of sexual arousal.

Effects of mental imagery styles on shoulder and hip rotations during preparation of pirouettes.

J Mot Behav. 2008 Jul;40(4):281-90

Authors: Golomer E, Bouillette A, Mertz C, Keller J

To analyze individual behavior in spatial navigation especially for pirouette preparations (complete whole-body rotations), the authors studied horizontal shoulder-hip interactions under 2 constraints: postural (right and left supporting legs [SL]) and spatial (clockwise [CW] and counterclockwise [CCW]). They performed kinematic analysis at the start and end of the shoulder-hip horizontal rotations (run-up) with regard to imagery of motor actions. On the basis of the Vividness of Movement Imagery Questionnaire, they classified 8 female expert ballet dancers and 7 untrained female participants according to their movement imagery style (kinesthetic and visual). At the run-up's end, the shoulders initiated the turn independently of SL but differently depending on training: CW for dancers and CCW for untrained participants (their commonly used direction). Kinesthetic and mixed imagery styles prevailed in dancers, whereas simply a mixed style appeared among untrained participants. Thus, dance training enhances the imagery of kinesthetic sensation and influences the choice of spatial direction, facilitating the body-space interaction.

Using mental practice in stroke rehabilitation: a framework.

Clin Rehabil. 2008 Jul;22(7):579-91

Authors: Braun S, Kleynen M, Schols J, Schack T, Beurskens A, Wade D

Introduction: Motor imagery and mental practice are getting increased attention in neurological rehabilitation. Several different mental practice intervention protocols have been used in studies on its effect on recovery in stroke rehabilitation. The content of the intervention protocols itself is rarely discussed or questioned.Objective: To give a practical framework of how mental practice could be integrated into therapy, drawing on available evidence and theory. The aim of the treatment programme described is to enhance both the patient's physical performance and their empowerment and self-determination.The framework: Based on evidence from sports rehabilitation and our own experiences the framework will eventually be evaluated in a randomized controlled trial. Five steps are described to teach and upgrade the patient's imagery technique: (1) assess mental capacity to learn imagery technique; (2) establish the nature of mental practice; (3) teach imagery technique; (4) embed and monitor imagery technique; (5) develop self-generated treatments. The description is not, however, a recipe that should be followed precisely. It leaves enough room to tailor the mental practice intervention to the specific individual possibilities, skills and needs of the patient in accordance with evidence-based practice.Discussion: Different aspects of the described protocol are discussed and compared with experiences from sports and evidence available in rehabilitation.

Neural activation in cognitive motor processes: comparing motor imagery and observation of gymnastic movements.

Exp Brain Res. 2008 Apr 19;

Authors: Munzert J, Zentgraf K, Stark R, Vaitl D

Motor imagery: A window into the mechanisms and alterations of the motor system.

Cortex. 2008 May;44(5):494-506

Authors: de Lange FP, Roelofs K, Toni I

Motor imagery is a widely used paradigm for the study of cognitive aspects of action control, both in the healthy and the pathological brain. In this paper we review how motor imagery research has advanced our knowledge of behavioral and neural aspects of action control, both in healthy subjects and clinical populations. Furthermore, we will illustrate how motor imagery can provide new insights in a poorly understood psychopathological condition: conversion paralysis (CP). We measured behavioral and cerebral responses with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in seven CP patients with a lateralized paresis of the arm as they imagined moving the affected or the unaffected hand. Imagined actions were either implicitly induced by the task requirements, or explicitly instructed through verbal instructions. We previously showed that implicitly induced motor imagery of the affected limb leads to larger ventromedial prefrontal responses compared to motor imagery of the unaffected limb. We interpreted this effect in terms of greater self-monitoring of actions during motor imagery of the affected limb. Here, we report new data in support of this interpretation: inducing self-monitoring of actions of both the affected and the unaffected limb (by means of explicitly cued motor imagery) abolishes the activation difference between the affected and the unaffected hand in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Our results show that although implicit and explicit motor imagery both entail motor simulations, they differ in terms of the amount of action monitoring they induce. The increased self-monitoring evoked by explicit motor imagery can have profound cerebral consequences in a psychopathological condition.

Cognitive processing and motor skill learning in motor-handicapped teenagers: effects of learning method.

Somatosens Mot Res. 2007 Dec;24(4):163-9

Authors: Deviterne D, Gauchard GC, Lavisse D, Perrin PP

Action verbs and the primary motor cortex: A comparative TMS study of silent reading, frequency judgments, and motor imagery.

Neuropsychologia. 2008 Feb 2;

Authors: Tomasino B, Fink GR, Sparing R, Dafotakis M, Weiss PH

Single pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was applied to the hand area of the left primary motor cortex or, as a control, to the vertex (STIMULATION: TMS(M1) vs. TMS(vertex)) while right-handed volunteers silently read verbs related to hand actions. We examined three different tasks and time points for stimulation within the same experiment: subjects indicated with their left foot when they (i) had finished reading, (ii) had judged whether the corresponding movement involved a hand rotation after simulating the hand movement, and (iii) had judged whether they would frequently encounter the action verb in a newspaper (TASK: silent reading, motor imagery, and frequency judgment). Response times were compared between TMS(M1) and TMS(vertex), both applied at different time points after stimulus onset (DELAY: 150, 300, 450, 600, and 750ms). TMS(M1) differentially modulated task performance: there was a significant facilitatory effect of TMS(M1) for the imagery task only (about 88ms), with subjects responding about 10% faster (compared to TMS(vertex)). In contrast, response times for silent reading and frequency judgments were unaffected by TMS(M1). No differential effect of the time point of TMS(M1) was observed. The differential effect of TMS(M1) when subjects performed a motor imagery task (relative to performing silent reading or frequency judgments with the same set of verbs) suggests that the primary motor cortex is critically involved in processing action verbs only when subjects are simulating the corresponding movement. This task-dependent effect of hand motor cortex TMS on the processing of hand-related action verbs is discussed with respect to the notion of embodied cognition and the associationist theory.

Kinesthetic Imagery and Tool-Specific Modulation of Corticospinal Representations in Expert Tennis Players.

Cereb Cortex. 2008 Feb 21;

Authors: Fourkas AD, Bonavolontà V, Avenanti A, Aglioti SM

Specific physical or mental practice may induce short- and long-term neuroplastic changes in the motor system and cause tools to become part of one's own body representation. Athletes who use tools as part of their practice may be an excellent model for assessing the neural correlates of possible bodily representation changes that are specific to extensive practice. We used single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation to measure corticospinal excitability in forearm and hand muscles of expert tennis players and novices although they mentally practiced a tennis forehand, table tennis forehand, and a golf drive. The muscles of expert tennis players showed increased corticospinal facilitation during motor imagery of tennis but not golf or table tennis. Novices, although athletes, were not modulated across sports. Subjective reports indicated that only in the tennis imagery condition did experts differ from novices in the ability to form proprioceptive images and to consider the tool as an extension of the hand. Neurophysiological and subjective data converge to suggest a key role of long-term experience in modulating sensorimotor body representations during mental simulation of sports.

Clinical Assessment of Motor Imagery After Stroke.

Neurorehabil Neural Repair. 2008 Mar 6;

Authors: Malouin F, Richards C, Durand A, Doyon J

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate: (1) the effects of a stroke on motor imagery vividness as measured by the Kinesthetic and Visual Imagery Questionnaire (KVIQ-20); (2) the influence of the lesion side; and (3) the symmetry of motor imagery. METHODS: Thirty-two persons who had sustained a stroke, in the right (n = 19) or left (n = 13) cerebral hemisphere, and 32 age-matched healthy persons participated. The KVIQ-20 assesses on a 5-point ordinal scale the clarity of the image (visual scale) and the intensity of the sensations (kinesthetic scale) that the subjects are able to imagine from the first-person perspective. RESULTS: In both groups, the visual scores were higher (P = .0001) than the kinesthetic scores and there was no group difference. Likewise, visual scores remained higher than kinesthetic scores irrespective of the lesion side. The visual scores poststroke were higher (P = .001) when imagining upper limb movements on the unaffected side than those on the affected side. When focusing on the lower limb only, however, the kinesthetic scores were higher (P = .001) when imagining movements of the unaffected compared to those on the affected side. CONCLUSIONS: The vividness of motor imagery poststroke remains similar to that of age-matched healthy persons and is not affected by the side of the lesion. However, after stroke motor imagery is not symmetrical and motor imagery vividness is better when imagining movements on the unaffected than on the affected side, indicating an overestimation possibly related to a hemispheric imbalance or a recalibration of motor imagery perception.

Effect of mental imagery on the development of skilled motor actions.

Percept Mot Skills. 2007 Dec;105(3 Pt 1):803-26

Authors: Fontani G, Migliorini S, Benocci R, Facchini A, Casini M, Corradeschi F

To test the effect of imagery in the training of skilled movements, an experiment was designed in which athletes learned a new motor action and trained themselves for a month either by overt action or by mental imagery of the action. The experiment was carried out with 30 male karateka (M age = 35 yr., SD = 8.7; M years of practice = 6, SD = 3) instructed to perform an action (Ura-Shuto-Uchi) that they had not previously learned. The athletes were divided into three groups: Untrained (10 subjects who did not perform any training), Action Trained (10 subjects who performed Ura-Shuto-Uchi training daily for 16 minutes), and Mental Imagery (10 subjects who performed mental imagery training of Ura-Shuto-Uchi daily for 16 minutes). The subjects were tested five times, once every 7 days. During each test, they performed a series of 60 motor action trials. In Tests 1, 3, and 5, they also performed a series of 60 mental imagery trials. During the trials, an electroencephalogram (EEG), electromyography (EMG), muscle strength and power, and other physiological parameters were recorded. The results differed by group. Untrained subjects did not show significant effects. In the Action Trained group, training had an effect on reactivity and movement speed, with a reduction of EMG activation and reaction times. Moreover, muscle strength, power, and work increased significantly. The Mental Imagery group showed the same effects on muscle strength, power, and work, but changes in reactivity were not observed. In the Mental Imagery group, the study of Movement Related Brain Macropotentials indicated a progressive modification of the profile of the waves from Test 1 to Test 5 during imagery, showing significant variations of the amplitude of the waves related to the premotor and motor execution periods. Results show that motor imagery can influence muscular abilities such as strength and power and can modify Movement Related Brain Macropotentials, the profile of which potentially could be used to verify the effectiveness of motor imagery training.

Effect of mental imagery on the development of skilled motor actions.

Percept Mot Skills. 2007 Dec;105(3 Pt 1):803-26

Authors: Fontani G, Migliorini S, Benocci R, Facchini A, Casini M, Corradeschi F

To test the effect of imagery in the training of skilled movements, an experiment was designed in which athletes learned a new motor action and trained themselves for a month either by overt action or by mental imagery of the action. The experiment was carried out with 30 male karateka (M age = 35 yr., SD = 8.7; M years of practice = 6, SD = 3) instructed to perform an action (Ura-Shuto-Uchi) that they had not previously learned. The athletes were divided into three groups: Untrained (10 subjects who did not perform any training), Action Trained (10 subjects who performed Ura-Shuto-Uchi training daily for 16 minutes), and Mental Imagery (10 subjects who performed mental imagery training of Ura-Shuto-Uchi daily for 16 minutes). The subjects were tested five times, once every 7 days. During each test, they performed a series of 60 motor action trials. In Tests 1, 3, and 5, they also performed a series of 60 mental imagery trials. During the trials, an electroencephalogram (EEG), electromyography (EMG), muscle strength and power, and other physiological parameters were recorded. The results differed by group. Untrained subjects did not show significant effects. In the Action Trained group, training had an effect on reactivity and movement speed, with a reduction of EMG activation and reaction times. Moreover, muscle strength, power, and work increased significantly. The Mental Imagery group showed the same effects on muscle strength, power, and work, but changes in reactivity were not observed. In the Mental Imagery group, the study of Movement Related Brain Macropotentials indicated a progressive modification of the profile of the waves from Test 1 to Test 5 during imagery, showing significant variations of the amplitude of the waves related to the premotor and motor execution periods. Results show that motor imagery can influence muscular abilities such as strength and power and can modify Movement Related Brain Macropotentials, the profile of which potentially could be used to verify the effectiveness of motor imagery training.