Citation

Heremans E, Helsen WF, Feys P. Behav. Brain Res. 2008; 187(2): 351-360.

Affiliation

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Faculty of Kinesiology and Rehabilitation Sciences, Department of Biomedical Kinesiology, Tervuursevest 101, 3001 Leuven, Belgium. elke.heremans@faber.kuleuven.be

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.bbr.2007.09.028

PMID

17977607

Abstract

It has been suggested that motor imagery possesses a range of useful applications in sport as well as in rehabilitation. Until now, research in this field has been hampered by the lack of an objective method to monitor the subjects' participation in the task. In this present study, a new approach to quantifying motor imagery of goal-directed hand movements by means of eye movement registration is examined. Eye movements of 15 right-handed subjects were recorded using EOG during both physical execution and visual motor imagery of a cyclical aiming task, performed at three different inter-target distances. We found that 89% of subjects made task-related eye movements during imagery with the eyes open and 84% of participants also did so during imagery with the eyes closed. Both the number and amplitude of the eye movements during imagery closely resembled those of eye movements made during physical execution of the task. This indicates that the coupling between neural patterns for eye and hand movements remains intact when hand movements are merely imagined as opposed to being physically executed. Therefore, eye movement recordings may be used as an objective technique to evaluate subjects' compliance, motor imagery ability, and spatial accuracy.

Language: en