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Objectives Building on mounting evidence distinguishing the neurological basis of different movement imagery abilities (visual versus kinesthetic), this study compared brain activity (i.e., blood flow changes) through functional magnetic resonance imaging elicited by movement imagery in participants self-reporting good and poor imagery abilities with the Movement Imagery Questionnaire-3. Participants also completed the Vividness of Movement Imagery Questionnaire-2. Method: Thirty-seven females (good imagery ability = 18; poor imagery ability = 19) were randomly presented with four experimental conditions (i.e., Kinesthetic, Internal Perspective, External Perspective and Rest) counterbalanced for condition, during three separate 11-min functional brain scans. Results: Kinesthetic and visual (internal/external) subscale mean differences of the Vividness of Movement Imagery Questionnaire-2 favored good imagers and high Movement Imagery Questionnaire-3 inter-scale correlations evidenced convergent validity. As in prior published work, kinesthetic, internal, and external visual imagery elicited distinct patterns of brain activation relative to rest. Overall, the patterns of brain activity in the good and poor imager groups were remarkably similar, indicating that they both generally relied on a similar brain network during movement imagery. Conclusions: Contrary to processing efficiency hypotheses (i.e., neural efficiency hypothesis) we report that during kinesthetic imagery and external visual imagery only, good imagers actually activated a greater number of spatially distinct cortical sites than did poor imagers. Furthermore, research is needed to fully characterize the neural signature of movement imagery in good and poor imagers. Such research is critical to the appropriate creation and proper application of neuroscience-inspired movement imagery-based learning interventions in healthy and clinical populations.

Historically, data from brain imaging and brain stimulation studies have supported the idea that the processing of observed actions recruits - among other areas - a distinct sub-set of brain sites in the sensory and motor cortices. These empirical findings have initially been linked with the thesis of direct matching as a mechanism of action understanding, i.e., the idea of motor resonance implemented by mirror neurons. In more recent approaches, it has been proposed that the mirror neuron system plays a role in minimizing prediction error when inferring the most likely cause of an observed action. According to these theories, motor resonance is thought to function as predictive coding. Other theoretical accounts suggest that action understanding might result from a hypothesis testing mechanism in which potential goals are continually fed into the system until the correct one is identified. In this review, we will explore the relationship of these theories to specific empirical findings. Finally, we will discuss the implications of these theoretical structures on action observation-based approaches to the optimization of skilled performance in athletes and patients.

Contains fulltext : 73537.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) An emerging branch of social cognitive neuroscience attempts to unravel the critical cognitive mechanisms that enable humans to engage in joint action. In the current experiment, differences in brain activity in participants engaging in solitary action and joint action were identified using whole brain fMRI while participants performed a virtual bar-balancing task either alone (S), or with the help of a partner in each of two separate joint-action conditions (isomorphic [J(i)] and non-isomorphic [J(n)]). Compared to the performing the task alone, BOLD signal was found to be stronger in both joint-action conditions at specific sites in the human mirror system (MNS). This activation pattern may reflect the demand on participants to simulate the actions of others, integrate their own actions with those of their partners, and compute appropriate responses. Increasing inter-dependence (complementarity) of movements being generated by cooperating individuals (J(n)>J(i)>S) was found to correlate with BOLD signal in the right anterior node of the MNS (pars opercularis), and the area around the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ). These data are relevant to current debates concerning the role of right IFG in complementary action, as well as evolving theories of joint action.

Cells in macaque ventral premotor cortex (area F5c) respond to observation or production of specific hand-object interactions. Studies in humans associate the left inferior frontal gyrus, including putative F5 homolog pars opercularis, with observing hand actions. Are these responses related to the realized goal of a prehensile action or to the observation of dynamic hand movements? Rapid, event-related fMRI was used to address this question. Subjects watched static pictures of the same objects being grasped or touched while performing a 1-back orienting task. In all 17 subjects, bilateral inferior frontal cortex was differentially activated in response to realized goals of observed prehensile actions. Bilaterally, precentral gyrus was most frequently activated (82%) followed by pars triangularis (73%) and pars opercularis (65%).