ArticleFrontiers in human neuroscience2012
Imagining is Not Doing but Involves Specific Motor Commands: A Review of Experimental Data Related to Motor Inhibition.
Article in Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 92 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
92 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effect of Motor Imagery Training on Motor Learning in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Effectiveness of Motor Imagery on Motor Recovery in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis: Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Effects and Dose-Response Relationships of Motor Imagery Practice on Strength Development in Healthy Adult Populations: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2018Pooled it
- Impact of neurologic deficits on motor imagery: a systematic review of clinical evaluations.Neuropsychology review · 2014Pooled it
- Actual and imagined music-cued gait training for people with multiple sclerosis: a multicentre qualitative study.BMJ open · 2024Trial
- Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Increases Posterior Theta Rhythm and Reduces Latency of Motor Imagery.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Trial
- The role of the primary motor cortex in motor imagery: A theta burst stimulation study.Psychophysiology · 2022Trial
- Change in Reciprocal Inhibition of the Forearm with Motor Imagery among Patients with Chronic Stroke.Neural plasticity · 2018Trial
- Motor imagery of locomotion with an additional load: actual load experience does not affect differences between physical and mental durations.Experimental brain research · 2015Trial
- Cross-Sectional and Quasi-Longitudinal Examination of Childhood and Adult Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome, Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and Insomnia.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Motor Cortex Activation Patterns in Both Hemispheres Induced by Motor Imagery in Patients With Right- and Left-Sided Cerebral Infarction: An fNIRS Study.The European journal of neuroscience · 2025Article
- Learning to operate an imagined speech Brain-Computer Interface involves the spatial and frequency tuning of neural activity.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Assessing brain-muscle networks during motor imagery to detect covert command-following.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- Toward Brain-Computer Interface motor rehabilitation for people with Multiple Sclerosis.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Neurophysiological evidence of motor contribution to vicarious affective touch.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2024Article
- Motor imagery from brain to muscle: a commentary on Bach et al., (2022).Psychological research · 2024Review
- Learning motor actions via imagery-perceptual or motor learning?Psychological research · 2024Review
- Why motor imagery is not really motoric: towards a re-conceptualization in terms of effect-based action control.Psychological research · 2024Review
- The multisensory nature of human action imagery.Psychological research · 2024Review
- Inequivalent and uncorrelated response priming in motor imagery and execution.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
32 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
There is now compelling evidence that motor imagery (MI) and actual movement share common neural substrate. However, the question of how MI inhibits the transmission of motor commands into the efferent pathways in order to prevent any movement is largely unresolved. Similarly, little is known about the nature of the electromyographic activity that is apparent during MI. In addressing these gaps in the literature, the present paper argues that MI includes motor execution commands for muscle contractions which are blocked at some level of the motor system by inhibitory mechanisms. We first assemble data from neuroimaging studies that demonstrate that the neural networks mediating MI and motor performance are not totally overlapping, thereby highlighting potential differences between MI and actual motor execution. We then review MI data indicating the presence of subliminal muscular activity reflecting the intrinsic characteristics of the motor command as well as increased corticomotor excitability. The third section not only considers the inhibitory mechanisms involved during MI but also examines how the brain resolves the problem of issuing the motor command for action while supervising motor inhibition when people engage in voluntary movement during MI. The last part of the paper draws on imagery research in clinical contexts to suggest that some patients move while imagining an action, although they are not aware of such movements. In particular, experimental data from amputees as well as from patients with Parkinson's disease are discussed. We also review recent studies based on comparing brain activity in tetraplegic patients with that from healthy matched controls that provide insights into inhibitory processes during MI. We conclude by arguing that based on available evidence, a multifactorial explanation of motor inhibition during MI is warranted.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.