TY - JOUR
T1 - Task-dependent engagements of the primary visual cortex during kinesthetic and visual motor imagery
AU - Mizuguchi, Nobuaki
AU - Nakamura, Maiko
AU - Kanosue, Kazuyuki
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank Dr. Larry Crawshaw for English editing. This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP26750242 to NM and JP26242065 to KK. All authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd
PY - 2017/1/1
Y1 - 2017/1/1
N2 - Motor imagery can be divided into kinesthetic and visual aspects. In the present study, we investigated excitability in the corticospinal tract and primary visual cortex (V1) during kinesthetic and visual motor imagery. To accomplish this, we measured motor evoked potentials (MEPs) and probability of phosphene occurrence during the two types of motor imageries of finger tapping. The MEPs and phosphenes were induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation to the primary motor cortex and V1, respectively. The amplitudes of MEPs and probability of phosphene occurrence during motor imagery were normalized based on the values obtained at rest. Corticospinal excitability increased during both kinesthetic and visual motor imagery, while excitability in V1 was increased only during visual motor imagery. These results imply that modulation of cortical excitability during kinesthetic and visual motor imagery is task dependent. The present finding aids in the understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying motor imagery and provides useful information for the use of motor imagery in rehabilitation or motor imagery training.
AB - Motor imagery can be divided into kinesthetic and visual aspects. In the present study, we investigated excitability in the corticospinal tract and primary visual cortex (V1) during kinesthetic and visual motor imagery. To accomplish this, we measured motor evoked potentials (MEPs) and probability of phosphene occurrence during the two types of motor imageries of finger tapping. The MEPs and phosphenes were induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation to the primary motor cortex and V1, respectively. The amplitudes of MEPs and probability of phosphene occurrence during motor imagery were normalized based on the values obtained at rest. Corticospinal excitability increased during both kinesthetic and visual motor imagery, while excitability in V1 was increased only during visual motor imagery. These results imply that modulation of cortical excitability during kinesthetic and visual motor imagery is task dependent. The present finding aids in the understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying motor imagery and provides useful information for the use of motor imagery in rehabilitation or motor imagery training.
KW - Corticospinal excitability
KW - Motor evoked potential
KW - Phosphene
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U2 - 10.1016/j.neulet.2016.10.064
DO - 10.1016/j.neulet.2016.10.064
M3 - Article
C2 - 27826015
AN - SCOPUS:85001110958
SN - 0304-3940
VL - 636
SP - 108
EP - 112
JO - Neuroscience Letters
JF - Neuroscience Letters
ER -
