Mental practice of action

Mental practice, or motor imagery, refers to use of visuo-motor imagery, or mental imagery with the purpose of improving motor behavior. Visuo-motor imagery requires the use of one’s imagination to simulate an action. It has come to the fore due to the relevance of imagery in enhancing sports performance. Although imagery has been described as a pillar of sport psychology practice, its foundations lie in research from other academic domains, including cognitive science, neurophysiology and even clinical neuropsychology.

Neurological mechanisms

When individuals actually perform an action (moving their fingers) and when they mentally imaging moving their fingers, activation is similarly detected in the supplementary motor area (SMA) and primary motor cortex (M1)

The basis for the use of mental practice comes from an array of empirical research that includes chronometric explorations of actual and imagined actions.^[1][2] The mental chronometric paradigm documented striking similarities between the duration times of actual and imagined movements. Such similarities are considered to reflect the motor processes involved in action preparation and programming.^[3] Research also demonstrates that there are cases when imagined movement durations are dissimilar when the task is particularly novel such as spring board dives.^[4]

There is also an impressive number of studies using functional neuroimaging techniques, such as positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging, that demonstrate that cortical and subcortical regions involved in motor control are activated when an individual mentally simulates an action.^{[5] [6]}

Use of mental practice in rehabilitation

Mental practice has been used to rehabilitate motor deficits in a variety of neurological disorders.^[7] Mental practice of action seems to improve balance in individuals with multiple sclerosis,^[8] and balance in elderly women (Fansler, Poff, & Shepard, 1985). For instance, mental practice has been used with success in combination with actual practice to rehabilitate motor deficits in a patient with sub-acute stroke.^[9] Several studies have also shown improvement in strength, function, and use of both upper and lower extremities in chronic stroke. For a complete listing of the current literature on mental practice, see http://www.rehabafterstroke.com/health-professionals/evidence/

Future directions

While the literature has evolved within sport psychology^[10] and cognitive neuroscience^[11] on mental imagery, cross-fertilization of research is still rare. However, a new emerging field called motor cognition, which is concerned with understanding the computational mechanisms and their neural underpinnings associated with action and its functional role in social cognition,^[12] includes imagery within its remit and offers the potential for research at the interface of these two domains. One approach that has emerged is the use of elite participants in the sport context as experts in human movement. This is essentially a paradigmatic shift away from the traditional neuroscience model of studying those with neurological deficits, and augmenting it by studying experts (e.g., athletes). It has been suggested that this paradigm offers great potential for understanding imagery and action.^[13] While the field of motor cognition is embryonic, the parallel field of social cognition has a more developed empirical and theoretical base.

See also

• Cognitive neuropsychology
• Common coding theory
• Sense of agency
• Social cognition
• Motor cognition
• Motor imagery
• Motor cortex
• Social neuroscience

Selected works

• Caeyenberghs, K., van Roon, D., Swinnen, S.P., & Smits-Engelsman, B.C. (2008). Deficits in executed and imagined aiming performance in brain-injured children. Brain and Cognition, Epub ahead of time.
• Holmes, P., & Calmels, C. (2008). A neuroscientific review of imagery and observation use in sport. Journal of Motor Behavior, 40, 433-445.
• Malouin, F., Richards, C.L., Jackson, P.L., Dumas, F., Doyon, J. (2003). Brain activations during motor imagery of locomotor-related tasks: a PET study. Human Brain Mapping, 19, 47-62.
• Thobois, S., Dominey, P.F., Decety, J., Pollak, P.P., Gregoire, M.C., Le Bars, P.D., & Broussolle, E. (2000). Motor imagery in normal subjects and in asymmetrical Parkinson's disease: a PET study. Neurology, 55, 996-1002.
• Verbunt, J.A., Seelen, H.A., Ramos, F.P., Michielsen, B.H,, Wetzelaer, W.L., & Moennekens, M. (2008). Mental practice-based rehabilitation training to improve arm function and daily activity performance in stroke patients: a randomized clinical trial. BMC Neurology, April 11, 8:7.

References

1. ^ Decety, J., Jeannerod, M., & Prablanc, C. (1989). The timing of mentally represented actions. Behavioral Brain Research. 34, 35-42.
2. ^ Gentili, R., Cahouet, V., Ballay, Y. Papaxanthis, C. (2004). Inertial properties of the arm are accurately predicted during motor imagery. Behavioural Brain Research. 155, 231-239.
3. ^ Decety, J. (1996). Do executed and imagined movements share the same central structures? Cognitive Brain Research, 3, 87-93.
4. ^ Reed, C. (2002). Chronometric comparisons of imagery to action: Visualizing versus physically performing springboard dives. Memory & Cognition. 30, 1169-1178.
5. ^ Roth, M., Decety, J., Raybaudi, M., Massarelli, R., Delon-Martin, C., Segebarth, C., Decorps, M., & Jeannerod, M. (1996). Possible involvement of primary motor cortex in mentally simulated movement: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study. NeuroReport, 7, 1280-1284.
6. ^ Decety, J., & Stevens, J. (2008). Action representation and its role in social interaction. In K.D. Markman, W.M.P. Klein & J.A. Suhr (Eds.), The Handbook of Imagination and Mental Simulation. New York: Psychology Press.
7. ^ Jackson, P.L., Lafleur, M., Malouin, F., Richards, C., & Doyon, J. (2001). Potential role of mental practice using motor imagery in neurologic rehabilitation. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 82, 1133-1141.
8. ^ Fansler, C. L., Poff, C. L., & Shepard, K. F. (1985). Effects of mental practice on balance in elderly women. Physical Therapy. 65, 1332-1337.
9. ^ Page, S. J., Levine, P., Sisto, S. A., & Johnston, M. V. (2001). Mental practice combined with physical practice for upper-limb motor deficit in subacute stroke. Physical Therapy. 81, 1455-1462.
10. ^ Morris, T., Spittle, M., & Watt, A. P. (2005). Imagery in sport. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
11. ^ Kosslyn, S.M., Thompson, W.L., & Ganis, G. (2006). The Case for Mental Imagery. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
12. ^ Decety, J., & Sommerville, J. (2007). Motor cognition and mental simulation. In S.M. Kosslyn & E. Smith (Eds.), Cognitive Psychology: Mind and Brain (pp. 451-481). New York: Prentice Hall.
13. ^ MacIntyre, T., & Moran, A. P. (2007). Motor Cognition and Imagery: Debunking Myths in Applied Sport Psychology. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association Annual Convention, San Francisco, August, 20th

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