ITAB-Institute for Advanced Biomedical Technologies, G. D'Annunzio University Foundation, Chieti, Italy.
Hum Brain Mapp. 2010 May;31(5):694-702. doi: 10.1002/hbm.20898.
Previous studies have shown that mental imagery is a suitable tool to study the progression of the effect of practice on brain activation. Nevertheless, there is still poor knowledge of changes in brain activation patterns during the very early stages of physical practice. In this study, early and late practice stages of different kinds of locomotion (i.e., balanced and unbalanced) have been investigated using functional magnetic resonance imaging during mental imagery of locomotion and stance. During the task, cardiac activity was also recorded. The cerebral network comprising supplementary motor area, basal ganglia, bilateral thalamus, and right cerebellum showed a stronger activation during the imagery of locomotion with respect to imagery of stance. The heart beat showed a significant increase in frequency during the imagery of locomotion with respect to the imagery of stance. Moreover, early stages of practice determined an increased activation in basal ganglia and thalamus with respect to late stages. In this way, it is proposed the modulation of the brain network involved in the imagery of locomotion as a function of physical practice time.
先前的研究表明，心理意象是研究练习对大脑激活效果的进展的一种合适工具。然而，对于在身体练习的非常早期阶段大脑激活模式的变化，我们的了解仍然很少。在这项研究中，使用功能磁共振成像技术，研究了不同类型运动（即平衡和非平衡）的早期和晚期练习阶段，这些运动在运动和站立的心理意象期间被记录下来。在任务期间，还记录了心脏活动。与站立的意象相比，运动的意象在包括辅助运动区、基底神经节、双侧丘脑和右侧小脑在内的大脑网络中显示出更强的激活。与站立的意象相比，在运动的意象中，心跳频率显著增加。此外，与后期阶段相比，练习的早期阶段确定了基底神经节和丘脑的激活增加。通过这种方式，提出了作为身体练习时间的函数，对涉及运动意象的大脑网络进行调制。
