Abstract
The study of neurophysiological mechanisms responsible for motor imagery is important for the development of brain-computer interfaces (BCI). Here we analyze the results of magnetoencephalographic (MEG) experiments which confirm the existence of two types of motor imagery, kinesthetic and visual imagery, distinguished by activation and inhibition of different brain areas in motor-related alpha (8-12 Hz) and beta (15-30 HZ) frequency ranges. Kinesthetic imagery implies muscular sensation when performing an imaginary moving action that leads to event-related desynchronization (ERD) of motor-associated brain rhythms. By contrast, visual imagery refers to visualization of the corresponding action that results in event-related synchronization (ERS) of alpha/beta activity. A main difference between kinesthetic and visual modes occurs in the frontal brain area. The analysis of evoked responses shows that in all kinesthetic imagery subjects the activity in the frontal cortex is suppressed during motor imagery, while in the visual imagery subjects the frontal cortex is always active. The accuracy in classification of left- and right-arm motor imagery using artificial intelligence methods is similar for kinesthetic and visual imagery modes. The possibility to increase the accuracy for visual imagery is in demand for BCIs.
Published Version
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