Visuo-motor learning with combination of different rates of motor imagery and physical practice.

Full Abstract

Sports psychology suggests that mental rehearsal facilitates physical practice in athletes and clinical rehabilitation attempts to use mental rehearsal to restore motor function in hemiplegic patients. Our aim was to examine whether mental rehearsal is equivalent to physical learning, and to determine the optimal proportions of real execution and rehearsal. Subjects were asked to grasp an object and insert it into an adapted slot. One group (G0) practiced the task only by physical execution (240 trials); three groups imagined performing the task in different rates of trials (25%, G25; 50%, G50; 75%, G75), and physically executed movements for the remaining trials; a fourth, control group imagined a visual rotation task in 75% of the trials and then performed the same motor task as the others groups. Movement time (MT) was compared for the first and last physical trials, together with other key trials, across groups. All groups learned, suggesting that mental rehearsal is equivalent to physical motor learning. More importantly, when subjects rehearsed the task for large numbers of trials (G50 and G75), the MT of the first executed trial was significantly shorter than the first executed trial in the physical group (G0), indicating that mental practice is better than no practice at all. Comparison of the first executed trial in G25, G50 and G75 with the corresponding trials in G0 (61, 121 and 181 trials), showed equivalence between mental and physical practice. At the end of training, the performance was much better with high rates of mental practice (G50/G75) compared to physical practice alone (G0), especially when the task was difficult. These findings confirm that mental rehearsal can be beneficial for motor learning and suggest that imagery might be used to supplement or partly replace physical practice in clinical rehabilitation.

Author information

Author/s: Allami, Nadia (N); Paulignan, Yves (Y); Brovelli, Andrea (A); Boussaoud, Driss (D);

Affiliation: Institut des Sciences Cognitives L2C2, CNRS/Université de Lyon UMR5230, 67 bd pinel, 69675, Bron Cedex, France.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Experimental brain research. Experimentelle Hirnforschung. Expérimentation cérébrale (Exp Brain Res), published in Germany. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Jan; vol 184 (issue 1) : pp 105-13

Dates: Created 2007/11/02; Completed 2008/04/25; Revised 2008/06/24;

PMID: 17849109, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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