Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15 Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-1192, Japan; Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, 3-14-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama city, Kanagawa, 223-8522, Japan; The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, 5-3-1 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-0083, Japan.
Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15 Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-1192, Japan.
Neurosci Res. 2019 Oct;147:17-25. doi: 10.1016/j.neures.2018.12.005. Epub 2018 Dec 31.
Motor imagery is the mental execution of an action without any actual movement. Although numerous studies have utilized questionnaires to evaluate the vividness of motor imagery, it remains unclear whether it is related to the accuracy of motor imagery. To examine the relationship between vividness and accuracy, we investigated brain activity during kinesthetic and visual motor imagery, by using a novel sequential finger-tapping task. We estimated accuracy by measuring the fidelity of the actual performance and evaluated vividness by using a visual analog scale. We found that accuracy of visual motor imagery was correlated with the activity in the left visual cortex, as well as with bilateral sensorimotor regions. In contrast, vividness of visual motor imagery was associated with the activity in the right orbitofrontal cortex. However, there was no correlation in the brain activity between the right orbitofrontal cortex and visuomotor regions or between vividness and accuracy of motor imagery. In addition, we did not find any correlation in the kinesthetic imagery condition. We conclude that vividness of visual motor imagery is associated with the right orbitofrontal cortex and is independent of processes occurring in sensorimotor regions, which would be responsible for the accuracy of visual motor imagery.
运动想象是指在没有任何实际运动的情况下进行的心理动作。尽管许多研究已经使用问卷来评估运动想象的生动性，但它是否与运动想象的准确性有关仍不清楚。为了研究生动性和准确性之间的关系，我们使用一种新的连续手指敲击任务，研究了运动和视觉运动想象时的大脑活动。我们通过测量实际表现的准确性来估计准确性，并使用视觉模拟量表来评估生动性。我们发现，视觉运动想象的准确性与左视觉皮层以及双侧感觉运动区域的活动有关。相比之下，视觉运动想象的生动性与右眶额皮质的活动有关。然而，在大脑活动中，右眶额皮质与运动想象区域之间或生动性和准确性之间没有相关性。此外，在运动想象条件下，我们没有发现任何相关性。我们的结论是，视觉运动想象的生动性与右眶额皮质有关，与负责视觉运动想象准确性的感觉运动区域中的过程无关。
