Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (Sep 2020)

The Vividness of Motor Imagery Is Correlated With Corticospinal Excitability During Combined Motor Imagery and Action Observation

  • Takefumi Moriuchi,
  • Akira Nakashima,
  • Jiro Nakamura,
  • Kimika Anan,
  • Keita Nishi,
  • Takashi Matsuo,
  • Takashi Hasegawa,
  • Wataru Mitsunaga,
  • Naoki Iso,
  • Toshio Higashi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2020.581652
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14

Abstract

Read online

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between motor imagery (MI) assessment (ability and quality) and neurophysiological assessment [transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-induced motor-evoked potentials (MEPs)] during combined MI and action observation (AO; MI + AO). Sixteen subjects completed an MI task playing the piano with both hands, and neurophysiological assessment was performed during the MI task. The Movement Imagery Questionnaire-Revised was adopted to evaluate MI ability, while the visual analogue scale (VAS) was adopted to evaluate MI quality. A TMS pulse was delivered during the MI task, and MEPs were subsequently recorded in the abductor pollicis brevis (APB). We found a significant positive correlation between the VAS score and the TMS-induced MEPs (ρ = 0.497, p < 0.001). These findings suggest that the VAS score could potentially reflect the corticospinal excitability during MI + AO, particularly in complex MI tasks.

Keywords