Multiple roles of motor imagery during action observation

Abstract

Over the last 20 years, the topics of action observation (AO) and motor imagery (MI) have been largely studied in isolation from each other, despite the early integrative account by Jeannerod (1994, 2001). Recent neuroimaging studies demonstrate enhanced cortical activity when AO and MI are performed concurrently (“AO+MI”), compared to either AO or MI performed in isolation. These results indicate the potentially beneficial effects of AO+MI, and they also demonstrate that the underlying neurocognitive processes are partly shared. We separately review the evidence for MI and AO as forms of motor simulation, and present two quantitative literature analyses that indeed indicate rather little overlap between the two bodies of research. We then propose a spectrum of concurrent AO+MI states, from congruent AO+MI where the contents of AO and MI widely overlap, over coordinative AO+MI, where observed and imagined action are different but can be coordinated with each other, to cases of conflicting AO+MI. We believe that an integrative account of AO and MI is theoretically attractive, that it should generate novel experimental approaches, and that it can also stimulate a wide range of applications in sport, occupational therapy, and neurorehabilitation.

Motor planning in children with cerebral palsy: A longitudinal perspective

“…Important in this respect is that current intervention programs predominantly use physical training, whereas converging evidence in adults with acquired brain damage showed two promising new techniques to stimulate damaged networks in the brain that can be used to remediate motor planning: Motor Imagery (MI; internal rehearsal of a future motor action without overt motor output) and Action Observation (AO; observation of the action performed by someone else). MI and AO are important means by which learning of complex motor tasks can be established, and they share common neurophysiological networks with motor planning (e.g., Vogt, Rienzo, Collet, Collins, & Guillot, 2013). Training of motor skills via MI and AO intervention was successful in adults with stroke (Page, Levine, & Leonard, 2007), and accumulating evidence indicates that it is also useful to train motor planning in children with congenital motor disorders such as CP and DCD (e.g., Sgandurra et al, 2013;Wilson et al, 2016).…”

Motor imagery of hand actions: Decoding the content of motor imagery from brain activity in frontal and parietal motor areas

“…MI is defined as an internal, conscious, and self‐intended rehearsal of movements from a first‐person perspective without any overt physical movement [Crammond, 1997; Decety and Jeannerod, 1996; Hanakawa et al, 2008; Jeannerod, 1994; see Munzert et al, 2009; Vogt et al, 2013, for reviews]. On a neural level, it has been proposed that MI is a simulation that uses the motor system as a substrate [Lange et al, 2006; Jeannerod 2001].…”

Motor Imagery and Action Observation as Effective Tools for Physical Therapy

“…However, motor imagery and action observation are just tools for modulating brain states [48]. Therefore, it is important to choose the appropriate treatment strategy according to functional characteristics and recovery phases of patients in the clinical setting [49].…”