Motor imagery and the muscle system

  • Highlights • Investigation of how the peripheral muscle system responds to imagination in interaction with proprioceptive information. • Motor imagery altered time to contraction but not velocity and maximal displacement of the muscle belly. • Findings indicate that MI might impact on the initiation of contraction. Abstract Many studies have investigated the activation of cortical areas and corticospinal excitability during motor imagery (MI) in relation to motor execution. Similar activation of cortical areas during imagined and executed bodily movements and increased corticospinal excitability while imagining movements has been demonstrated. Despite these similarities on the central nervous system level, there is no overt movement during MI. This suggests that centrally generated signals must be inhibited at some level. Second, even in the absence of movement, some studies find behavioral effects of MI interventions. Most of the studies have investigated the role of MI on the cortical or spinal level, but less is known about the peripheral level, such as the muscle system. Testing muscular excitability during MI will give further hints whether and how low-threshold motor commands during MI reach the muscular system. Furthermore, the extent of the shown effects during imagery depends considerably on type of imagery, available proprioceptive information, and imagery ability. Therefore, this study investigates muscular excitability of the biceps brachii muscle manipulating imagery mode (MI vs. visual imagery) and proprioceptive information (with or without muscle effort). 40 participants were included in the analysis. The mechanical response of the muscle after a single electrical stimulus was assessed via tensiomyography. The corresponding variables maximal displacement, delay time, and contraction velocity were used to calculate 2 × 2 ANOVAs with repeated measurements. The absence of interaction effects shows that possible imagery effects on the muscle system are not increased by effort. MI altered time to contraction with lower delay time compared to control condition. Velocity and maximal displacement of the muscle belly during contraction did not differ between imagery conditions. This indicates that MI might impact on the initiation of muscle contraction but does not change the contraction itself. Thus, neuronal factors are moving further into focus in the context of MI research.

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Metadaten
Author:Björn WielandORCiDGND, Michael BehringerORCiDGND, Karen ZentgrafORCiDGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-782718
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2022.02.004
ISSN:0167-8760
Parent Title (English):International journal of psychophysiology
Publisher:Elsevier
Place of publication:Amsterdam
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2022/02/15
Date of first Publication:2022/02/12
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2024/03/18
Tag:Biceps brachii; Electromyography; Mental imagery; Muscle contractile properties; Tensiomyography
Volume:174
Page Number:9
First Page:57
Last Page:65
HeBIS-PPN:519272919
Institutes:Psychologie und Sportwissenschaften / Sportwissenschaften
Dewey Decimal Classification:6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 61 Medizin und Gesundheit / 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
7 Künste und Unterhaltung / 79 Sport, Spiele, Unterhaltung / 790 Freizeitgestaltung, darstellende Künste, Sport
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung-Nicht kommerziell - Keine Bearbeitung 4.0