The effects of physical practice on motor imagery

Details

Supervisors

Hardwick, Robert M. ; Mc Ateer, Siobhan

Faculty

Faculté des sciences de la motricité

Degree label

Master [60] en kinésithérapie et réadaptation

Abstract

Motor imagery is the mental imagination of an action or movement without executing that action or movement. Despite previous research about motor imagery and different models of its function, it is still unclear to how it works. The two most common models are the Motor Cognitive Model and the Motor Simulation Theory. They put forward different ideas: motor imagery and execution are similar between pre-training and post-training, for the Motor Simulation Theory. In contrast, motor imagery and execution are different between pre-training and post-training with imagery that becomes quicker post-training, for the Motor Cognitive Model. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of physical training on motor imagery. The experiment was performed over 5 days with 28 participants, aged between 18 and 26 years old. After a first baseline session day 1, they were trained on an execution typing task for 3 days and ended the experiment with a test session day 5. Baseline and test sessions included imagery and execution tasks while training sessions included only an execution task. Consistent with previous findings, with training, both imagery and execution durations decrease, which could lead us to both models. As there was no three-way interaction found in the present results, it showed evidence for the motor Simulation Theory. Nevertheless, regardless of time point and training, it is found that imagery and execution are always different, and that imagery is always overestimated. This shows some evidence of the Motor Cognitive Model.