Cerebral correlates of motor imagery of normal and precision gait
Publication year
2008Source
NeuroImage, 41, 3, (2008), pp. 998-1010ISSN
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Publication type
Article / Letter to editor
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Organization
Neurology
Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging
PI Group Systems Neurology
Geriatrics
SW OZ DCC CO
Former Organization
SW OZ NICI CO
F.C. Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging
Journal title
NeuroImage
Volume
vol. 41
Issue
iss. 3
Page start
p. 998
Page end
p. 1010
Subject
110 000 Neurocognition of Language; 111 000 Intention & Action; 111 002 Neural dynamics of movement representations; 111 007 Freezing of gait in Parkinson Disease; 111 008 Body schema deficits in Parkinson's diseaseAbstract
We have examined the cerebral structures involved in motor imagery of normal and precision gait (i.e., gait requiring precise foot placement and increased postural control). We recorded cerebral activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging while subjects imagined walking along paths of two different widths (broad, narrow) that required either normal gait, or exact foot placement and increased postural control. We used a matched visual imagery (VI) task to assess the motor specificity of the effects, and monitored task performance by recording imagery times, eye movements, and electromyography during scanning. In addition, we assessed the effector specificity of MI of gait by comparing our results with those of a previous study on MI of hand movements. We found that imagery times were longer for the narrow path during MI, but not during VI, suggesting that MI was sensitive to the constraints imposed by a narrow walking path. Moreover, MI of precision gait resulted in increased cerebral activity and effective connectivity within a network involving the superior parietal lobules, the dorsal precentral gyri, and the right middle occipital gyrus. Finally, the cerebral responses to MI of gait were contiguous to but spatially distinct from regions involved in MI of hand movements. These results emphasize the role of cortical structures outside primary motor regions in imagining locomotion movements when accurate foot positioning and increased postural control is required.
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- Academic publications [238426]
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging [3824]
- Electronic publications [122508]
- Faculty of Medical Sciences [90358]
- Faculty of Social Sciences [29483]
- Open Access publications [97504]
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