Motor and Kinesthetic Imagery

Abstract

This chapter aims to provide an overview of the functional, ­physiological, and neural characteristics of motor imagery. The literature reviewed shows that motor imagery shares many characteristics with motor executions, both at a behavioral and a physiological level. Furthermore, functional imaging studies show that imagining a movement activates a motor network that largely overlaps with that involved when actively performing a movement. However, the involvement of the primary motor cortex in motor imagery is still under debate. The range of behavioral, physiological, and neural effects of motor imagery also overlap with those reported during action observation, although activation of a motor network through imagery or observation may be less extensive than during action execution, with observation perhaps providing the least activation. Thus, the idea that motor imagery evokes similar motor representations as execution of movements may be used in a range of different applications such as motor (re)learning in sport psychology and rehabilitation of motor disorders. Moreover, brain-computer interfaces are now in development, using mental processes to interface with computers, which may be of great relevance to paralyzed patients.