The processes and neural bases used for motor imagery are also used for the actual execution of correspondent movements. Humans, however, can imagine movements they cannot perform. Here we explored whether plausibility of movements is mapped on the corticospinal motor system and whether the process is influenced by visuomotor vs. kinesthetic-motor first person imagery strategy. Healthy subjects imagined performing possible or biomechanically impossible right index finger movements during single pulse TMS of the left motor cortex. We found an increase of corticospinal excitability during motor imagery which was higher for impossible than possible movements and specific for the muscle involved in the actual execution of the imagined movement. We expand our previous action observation studies, suggesting that the plausibility of a movement is computed in regions upstream the primary motor cortex, and that motor imagery is a higher-order process not fully constrained by the rules that govern motor execution. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Motor imagery beyond the joint limits: A transcranial magnetic stimulation study / Bufalari, Ilaria; A., Sforza; P., Cesari; Aglioti, Salvatore Maria; A. D., Fourkas. - In: BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY. - ISSN 0301-0511. - STAMPA. - 85:2(2010), pp. 283-290. [10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.07.015]

Motor imagery beyond the joint limits: A transcranial magnetic stimulation study

BUFALARI, Ilaria;AGLIOTI, Salvatore Maria;
2010

Abstract

The processes and neural bases used for motor imagery are also used for the actual execution of correspondent movements. Humans, however, can imagine movements they cannot perform. Here we explored whether plausibility of movements is mapped on the corticospinal motor system and whether the process is influenced by visuomotor vs. kinesthetic-motor first person imagery strategy. Healthy subjects imagined performing possible or biomechanically impossible right index finger movements during single pulse TMS of the left motor cortex. We found an increase of corticospinal excitability during motor imagery which was higher for impossible than possible movements and specific for the muscle involved in the actual execution of the imagined movement. We expand our previous action observation studies, suggesting that the plausibility of a movement is computed in regions upstream the primary motor cortex, and that motor imagery is a higher-order process not fully constrained by the rules that govern motor execution. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
2010
impossible movements; metacarpo-phalangeal joint; motor excitability; motor imagery; transcranial magnetic stimulation
01 Pubblicazione su rivista::01a Articolo in rivista
Motor imagery beyond the joint limits: A transcranial magnetic stimulation study / Bufalari, Ilaria; A., Sforza; P., Cesari; Aglioti, Salvatore Maria; A. D., Fourkas. - In: BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY. - ISSN 0301-0511. - STAMPA. - 85:2(2010), pp. 283-290. [10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.07.015]
File allegati a questo prodotto
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/347088
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? 5
  • Scopus 16
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 16
social impact