Department of Medical & Biological Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea.
Behav Brain Res. 2012 Sep 1;234(1):26-32. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2012.06.001. Epub 2012 Jun 12.
Evidence from previous studies has suggested that motor imagery and motor action engage overlapping brain systems. As a result of this observation that motor imagery can activate brain regions associated with actual motor movement, motor imagery is expected to enhance motor skill performance and become an underlying principle for physical training in sports and physical rehabilitation. However, few studies have examined the effects of physical training on motor imagery in beginners. Also, differences in neural networks related to motor imagery before and after training have seldom been studied. In the current study, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we investigated the question of whether motor imagery can reflect plastic changes of neural correlates associated with intensive training. In fact, motor imagery was used in this study as a tool to assess the brain areas involved in shooting and involved in learning of shooting. We discovered that use of motor imagery resulted in recruitment of widely distributed common cortical areas, which were suggested to play a role in generation and maintenance of mental images before and after 90 h of shooting training. In addition to these common areas, brain activation before and after 90 h of shooting practice showed regionally distinct patterns of activity change in subcortical motor areas. That is, basal ganglia showed increased activity after 90 h of shooting practice, suggesting the occurrence of plastic change in association with gains in performance and reinforcement learning. Therefore, our results suggest that, in order to reach a level of expertise, the brain would change through initial reinforcement of preexistent connections during the training period and then use more focused neural correlates through formation of new connections.
先前的研究证据表明，运动想象和运动动作涉及重叠的大脑系统。由于运动想象可以激活与实际运动相关的大脑区域，因此运动想象有望提高运动技能表现，并成为运动和身体康复领域体能训练的基础原理。然而，很少有研究调查体能训练对初学者运动想象的影响。此外，训练前后与运动想象相关的神经网络差异也很少被研究。在目前的研究中，我们使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）研究了运动想象是否可以反映与密集训练相关的神经关联的可塑性变化。实际上，在这项研究中，运动想象被用作评估与射击相关的大脑区域以及与射击学习相关的大脑区域的工具。我们发现，运动想象的使用导致广泛分布的共同皮质区域的募集，这些区域被认为在 90 小时的射击训练前后的心理意象的产生和维持中发挥作用。除了这些共同区域之外，90 小时的射击练习前后的大脑激活显示出皮质下运动区域活动变化的区域特异性模式。也就是说，经过 90 小时的射击练习后，基底神经节的活动增加，这表明与表现和强化学习的提高相关的可塑性变化的发生。因此，我们的研究结果表明，为了达到专业水平，大脑会在训练期间通过对现有连接的初始强化来改变，然后通过形成新的连接来使用更集中的神经关联。
