Experimental brain research. Experimentelle Hirnforschung. Expérimentation cérébrale
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Comparative Study
Corticospinal facilitation during first and third person imagery.
Motor imagery can be defined as the covert rehearsal of movement. Previous research with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has demonstrated that motor imagery increases the corticospinal excitability of the primary motor cortex in the area corresponding to the representation of the muscle involved in the imagined movement. This research, however, has been limited to imagery of oneself in motion. ⋯ The facilitation in first person imagery adds to previous findings. A greater facilitation of MEPs recorded from FDI was found in third person imagery where the action was clearly attributable to another person. We interpret this novel result in the context of observed action and imagined observation of self action, and attribute the result to activation of mirror systems for matching the imagined action with an inner visuo-motor template.