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Bach P, Frank C, Kunde W. Why motor imagery is not really motoric: towards a re-conceptualization in terms of effect-based action control. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2024; 88:1790-1804. [PMID: 36515699 PMCID: PMC11315751 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-022-01773-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2021] [Accepted: 11/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Overt and imagined action seem inextricably linked. Both have similar timing, activate shared brain circuits, and motor imagery influences overt action and vice versa. Motor imagery is, therefore, often assumed to recruit the same motor processes that govern action execution, and which allow one to play through or simulate actions offline. Here, we advance a very different conceptualization. Accordingly, the links between imagery and overt action do not arise because action imagery is intrinsically motoric, but because action planning is intrinsically imaginistic and occurs in terms of the perceptual effects one want to achieve. Seen like this, the term 'motor imagery' is a misnomer of what is more appropriately portrayed as 'effect imagery'. In this article, we review the long-standing arguments for effect-based accounts of action, which are often ignored in motor imagery research. We show that such views provide a straightforward account of motor imagery. We review the evidence for imagery-execution overlaps through this new lens and argue that they indeed emerge because every action we execute is planned, initiated and controlled through an imagery-like process. We highlight findings that this new view can now explain and point out open questions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patric Bach
- School of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, William Guild Building, Kings College, Aberdeen, UK.
| | - Cornelia Frank
- Department of Sports and Movement Science, School of Educational and Cultural Studies, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Wilfried Kunde
- Department of Psychology, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Röntgenring 11, Würzburg, Germany
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Pathak A, Patel S, Karlinsky A, Taravati S, Welsh TN. The "eye" in imagination: The role of eye movements in a reciprocal aiming task. Behav Brain Res 2023; 441:114261. [PMID: 36539164 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2022.114261] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2022] [Revised: 11/25/2022] [Accepted: 12/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Humans not only perform a variety of actions, but they also simulate or imagine themselves performing those actions. When individuals physically execute goal-directed hand movements, eye movements typically precede the hand movements to the target to enhance movement accuracy. Studies have also revealed that eye movements emerge during motor imagery. Although eye-hand coordination is clearly important for the execution of a goal-directed movement, less is known about the role or expression of eye movements in an imagined movement. The present experiments were designed to investigate the role of eye movements during an executed and imagined reciprocal aiming task. Participants executed and imagined reciprocal aiming movements under conditions in which they were allowed to freely move their eyes or were told to fixate at a fixation point. Speed-accuracy trade-offs consistent with Fitts' Law were observed across all conditions suggesting that eye movements were not necessary to execute or imagine movements. Movement times were longest, however, in the imagination task when the eye movements were restricted to the central fixation point, suggesting that eye movements might assist with the accuracy or calibration of the imagination process. Analysis of eye movements during the no fixation imagination task revealed that the eye movements during imagination mimicked the executed hand movements when gaze was not restricted. Overall, these results suggest that although the ability to make eye movements was not necessary for action execution or motor imagery, the use of eye movements likely enhancing the accuracy of motor imagery for this task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aarohi Pathak
- Centre for Motor Control, Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
| | - Shikha Patel
- Centre for Motor Control, Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - April Karlinsky
- Centre for Motor Control, Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Department of Kinesiology, College of Natural Sciences, California State University, San Bernardino, USA
| | - Saba Taravati
- Centre for Motor Control, Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Timothy N Welsh
- Centre for Motor Control, Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
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Sadler CM, Peters KJ, Santangelo CM, Maslovat D, Carlsen AN. Retrospective composite analysis of StartReact data indicates sex differences in simple reaction time are not attributable to response preparation. Behav Brain Res 2022; 426:113839. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2022.113839] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2021] [Revised: 03/01/2022] [Accepted: 03/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
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Forgaard CJ, Franks IM, Maslovat D, Chua R. Influence of kinesthetic motor imagery and effector specificity on the long-latency stretch response. J Neurophysiol 2019; 122:2187-2200. [PMID: 31553684 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00159.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The long-latency "reflexive" response (LLR) following an upper limb mechanical perturbation is generated by neural circuitry shared with voluntary control. This feedback response supports many task-dependent behaviors and permits the expression of goal-directed corrections at latencies shorter than voluntary reaction time. An extensive body of literature has demonstrated that the LLR shows flexibility akin to voluntary control, but it has not yet been tested whether instruction-dependent LLR changes can also occur in the absence of an overt voluntary response. The present study used kinesthetic motor imagery (experiment 1) and instructed participants to execute movement with the unperturbed contralateral limb (experiment 2) to explore the relationship between the overt production of a voluntary response and LLR facilitation. Activity in stretched right wrist flexors were compared with standard "do not-intervene" and "compensate" conditions. Our findings revealed that on ~40% of imagery and ~50% of contralateral trials, a response occurred during the voluntary epoch in the stretched right wrist flexors. On these "leaked" trials, the early portion of the LLR (R2) was facilitated and displayed a similar increase to compensate trials. The latter half of the LLR (R3) showed further modulation, mirroring the patterns of voluntary epoch activity. By contrast, the LLR on "non-leaked" imagery and contralateral trials did not modulate. We suggest that even though a hastened voluntary response cannot account for all instruction-dependent LLR modulation, the overt execution of a response during the voluntary epoch in the same muscle(s) as the LLR is a prerequisite for instruction-dependent facilitation of this feedback response.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Using motor imagery and contralateral responses, we provide novel evidence that facilitation of the long-latency reflex (LLR) requires the execution of a response during the voluntary epoch. A high proportion of overt response "leaks" were found where the mentally simulated or mirrored response appeared in stretched muscle. The first half of the LLR was categorically sensitive to the appearance of leaks, whereas the latter half displayed characteristics closely resembling activity in the ensuing voluntary period.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J Forgaard
- School of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.,The Brain and Mind Institute, Western University, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Psychology, Western University, Ontario, Canada
| | - Ian M Franks
- School of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Dana Maslovat
- School of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Romeo Chua
- School of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
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Eagles JS, Carlsen AN, MacKinnon CD. Neural processes mediating the preparation and release of focal motor output are suppressed or absent during imagined movement. Exp Brain Res 2015; 233:1625-37. [PMID: 25744055 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-015-4237-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2014] [Accepted: 02/18/2015] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Movements that are executed or imagined activate a similar subset of cortical regions, but the extent to which this activity represents functionally equivalent neural processes is unclear. During preparation for an executed movement, presentation of a startling acoustic stimulus (SAS) evokes a premature release of the planned movement with the spatial and temporal features of the tasks essentially intact. If imagined movement incorporates the same preparatory processes as executed movement, then a SAS should release the planned movement during preparation. This hypothesis was tested using an instructed-delay cueing paradigm during which subjects were required to rapidly release a handheld weight while maintaining the posture of the arm or to perform first-person imagery of the same task while holding the weight. In a subset of trials, a SAS was presented at 1500, 500, or 200 ms prior to the release cue. Task-appropriate preparation during executed and imagined movements was confirmed by electroencephalographic recording of a contingent negative variation waveform. During preparation for executed movement, a SAS often resulted in premature release of the weight with the probability of release progressively increasing from 24 % at -1500 ms to 80 % at -200 ms. In contrast, the SAS rarely (<2 % of trials) triggered a release of the weight during imagined movement. However, the SAS frequently evoked the planned postural response (suppression of bicep brachii muscle activity) irrespective of the task or timing of stimulation (even during periods of postural hold without preparation). These findings provide evidence that neural processes mediating the preparation and release of the focal motor task (release of the weight) are markedly attenuated or absent during imagined movement and that postural and focal components of the task are prepared independently.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy S Eagles
- Department of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
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Manipulating visual–motor experience to probe for observation-induced after-effects in adaptation learning. Exp Brain Res 2013; 232:789-802. [DOI: 10.1007/s00221-013-3788-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2012] [Accepted: 11/19/2013] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
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Throwing in the dark: improved prediction of action outcomes following motor training without vision of the action. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2013; 78:692-704. [DOI: 10.1007/s00426-013-0526-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2013] [Accepted: 10/31/2013] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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On the relationship between the execution, perception, and imagination of action. Behav Brain Res 2013; 257:242-52. [PMID: 24100120 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2013.09.045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2013] [Revised: 09/24/2013] [Accepted: 09/27/2013] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Humans can perform, perceive, and imagine voluntary movement. Numerous investigations of these abilities have employed variants of goal-directed aiming tasks because the Fitts's law equation reliably captures the mathematical relationship between movement time (MT) and accuracy requirements. The emergence of Fitts's speed-accuracy relationship during movement execution, perception, and imagination has led to the suggestion that these processes rely on common neural codes. This common coding account is based on the notion that the neural codes used to generate an action are tightly bound to the codes that represent the perceptual consequences of that action. It is suggested that during action imagination and perception the bound codes are activated offline through an action simulation. The present study provided a comprehensive testing of this common coding hypothesis by examining the characteristics of the Fitts relationship in movement execution, perception, and imagination within the same individuals. Participants were required to imagine and perceive reciprocal aiming movements with varying accuracy requirements before and after actually executing the movements. Consistent with the common coding account, the Fitts relationship was observed in all conditions. Critically, the slopes of the regression lines across tasks were not different suggesting that the core of the speed-accuracy trade-off was consistent across conditions. In addition, it was found that incidental limb position variability scaled to the amplitude of imagined movements. This motor overflow suggests motor system activation during action imagination. Overall, the results support the hypothesis that action execution, perception, and imagination rely on a common coding system.
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