Enhanced Activation of Motor Execution Networks Using Action Observation Combined with Imagination of Lower Limb Movements

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 8; no. 8; p. e72403
• Main Authors: Villiger, Michael, Estévez, Natalia, Hepp-Reymond, Marie-Claude, Kiper, Daniel, Kollias, Spyros S., Eng, Kynan, Hotz-Boendermaker, Sabina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 28.08.2013; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Attention; Biology; Brain Mapping; Cognitive ability; Computer applications; Cortex (parietal); Emulation; Engineering; Executive Function; Feet; Female; Foot - physiology; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Humans; Imagery; Imagery (Psychotherapy); Imagination; Imagination - physiology; Internet; Leg - physiology; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Medicine; Mental task performance; Motor Cortex - physiology; Movement - physiology; Neural networks; Neurology; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Parietal Lobe - physiology; Photic Stimulation; Psychomotor Performance; Rehabilitation; Simulation; Spinal cord injuries; Stroke; Studies; Virtual reality; Young Adult; Switzerland

The combination of first-person observation and motor imagery, i.e. first-person observation of limbs with online motor imagination, is commonly used in interactive 3D computer gaming and in some movie scenes. These scenarios are designed to induce a cognitive process in which a subject imagines him...