Kinesthetic imagery: does it exist and how can we measure it?

[Introduction]: The emergence of sport psychology has influenced how athletes train and compete. Increasingly, coaches and athletes are incorporating mental as well as physical skills into their training programs and competition routines. Imagery is one such mental skill. To develop an imagery program tailored to the athlete three pieces of information are vital: the imagery ability of the athlete; the effect of imagery on performance; and the motive for using imagery. This paper explores measurement of the imagery ability of the athlete. Specifically, the aim was to create new and valid measures of kinaesthetic imagery and examine the relationship these measures share with existing measures of imagery

Similarities between explicit and implicit motor imagery in mental rotation of hands: an EEG study

Chronometric and imaging studies have shown that motor imagery is used implicitly during mental rotation tasks in which subjects for example judge the laterality of human hand pictures at various orientations. Since explicit motor imagery is known to activate the sensorimotor areas of the cortex, mental rotation is expected to do similar if it involves a form of motor imagery. So far, functional magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography have been used to study mental rotation and less attention has been paid to electroencephalogram (EEG) which offers a high time-frequency resolution. The time-frequency analysis is an established method for studying explicit motor imagery. Although hand mental rotation is claimed to involve motor imagery, the time-frequency characteristics of mental rotation have never been compared with those of explicit motor imagery. In this study, time-frequency responses of EEG recorded during explicit motor imagery and during a mental rotation task, inducing implicit motor imagery, were compared. Fifteen right-handed healthy volunteers performed motor imagery of hands in one condition and hand laterality judgement tasks in another while EEG of the whole head was recorded. The hand laterality judgement was the mental rotation task used to induce implicit motor imagery. The time-frequency analysis and sLORETA localisation of the EEG showed that the activities in the sensorimotor areas had similar spatial and time-frequency characteristics in explicit motor imagery and implicit motor imagery conditions. Furthermore this sensorimotor activity was different for the left and for the right hand in both explicit and implicit motor imagery. This result supports that motor imagery is used during mental rotation and that it can be detected and studied with EEG technology. This result should encourage the use of mental rotation of body parts in rehabilitation programmes in a similar manner as motor imagery

Damage to fronto-parietal networks impairs motor imagery ability after stroke : a voxel-based lesion symptom mapping study

Background: mental practice with motor imagery has been shown to promote motor skill acquisition in healthy subjects and patients. Although lesions of the common motor imagery and motor execution neural network are expected to impair motor imagery ability, functional equivalence appears to be at least partially preserved in stroke patients.Aim: to identify brain regions that are mandatory for preserved motor imagery ability after stroke.Method: thirty-seven patients with hemiplegia after a first time stroke participated. Motor imagery ability was measured using a Motor Imagery questionnaire and temporal congruence test. A voxelwise lesion symptom mapping approach was used to identify neural correlates of motor imagery in this cohort within the first year post-stroke.Results: poor motor imagery vividness was associated with lesions in the left putamen, left ventral premotor cortex and long association fibres linking parieto-occipital regions with the dorsolateral premotor and prefrontal areas. Poor temporal congruence was otherwise linked to lesions in the more rostrally located white matter of the superior corona radiata. Conclusion: This voxel-based lesion symptom mapping study confirms the association between white matter tract lesions and impaired motor imagery ability, thus emphasizing the importance of an intact fronto-parietal network for motor imagery. Our results further highlight the crucial role of the basal ganglia and premotor cortex when performing motor imagery tasks

Why Successful Performance in Imagery Tasks Does not Require the Manipulation of Mental Imagery

Nanay (2017) argues for unconscious mental imagery, inter alia based on the assumption that successful performance in imagery tasks requires the manipulation of mental imagery. I challenge this assumption with the help of results presented in Shepard and Metzler (1971), Zeman et al. (2010), and Keogh and Pearson (2018). The studies suggest that imagery tasks can be successfully performed by means of cognitive/propositional strategies which do not rely on imagery

Psychological needs and the prediction of exercise-related cognitions and affect among an ethnically diverse cohort of adult women

Previous research has highlighted a need for identifying the psychological strategies which best maximize the affective responses to exercise (e.g., Blanchard, Rodgers, & Gauvin, 2004). The present study compared the effects on affective responses of using different imagery types while exercising. Participants (N = 75, mean age = 20.2 years, SD = 1.33) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 imagery conditions (i.e., enjoyment imagery, energy imagery, or technique imagery). Affect was recorded before and after 20 min of moderate intensity cycle ergometry (50% Heart Rate Reserve) using the Exercise-Induced Feeling Inventory (EFI; Gauvin & Rejeski, 1993) and the Feeling Scale (Hardy & Rejeski, 1989). Controlling for affect reported before the exercise bout, the enjoyment imagery group reported significantly higher levels of postexercise valence than the energy and technique imagery groups and higher revitalization than the technique imagery group. These findings indicate that enjoyment imagery could be used to further improve the affective benefits associated with exercise

Do synaesthesia and mental imagery tap into similar cross-modal processes?

Synaesthesia has previously been linked with imagery abilities, although an understanding of a causal role for mental imagery in broader synaesthetic experiences remains elusive. This can be partly attributed to our relatively poor understanding of imagery in sensory domains beyond vision. Investigations into the neural and behavioural underpinnings of mental imagery have nevertheless identified an important role for imagery in perception, particularly in mediating cross-modal interactions. However, the phenomenology of synaesthesia gives rise to the assumption that associated cross-modal interactions may be encapsulated and specific to synaesthesia. As such, evidence for a link between imagery and perception may not generalize to synaesthesia. Here, we present results that challenge this idea: first, we found enhanced somatosensory imagery evoked by visual stimuli of body parts in mirror-touch synaesthetes, relative to other synaesthetes or controls. Moreover, this enhanced imagery generalized to tactile object properties not directly linked to their synaesthetic associations. Second, we report evidence that concurrent experience evoked in grapheme-colour synaesthesia was sufficient to trigger visual-to-tactile correspondences that are common to all. Together, these findings show that enhanced mental imagery is a consistent hallmark of synaesthesia, and suggest the intriguing possibility that imagery may facilitate the cross-modal interactions that underpin synaesthesic experiences. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Bridging senses: novel insights from synaesthesia'

Influence of motor imagery training on gait rehabilitation in sub-acute stroke: a randomized controlled trial

Objective: To evaluate the effect of mental practice on motor imagery ability and assess the influence of motor imagery on gait rehabilitation in sub-acute stroke. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Subjects: A total of 44 patients with gait dysfunction after first-ever stroke were randomly allocated to a motor imagery training group and a muscle relaxation group. Methods: The motor imagery group received 6 weeks of daily mental practice. The relaxation group received a muscle relaxation programme of equal duration. Motor imagery ability and lower limb function were assessed at baseline and after 6 weeks of treatment. Motor imagery ability was tested using a questionnaire and mental chronometry test. Gait outcome was evaluated using a 10-m walk test (near transfer) and the Fugl-Meyer assessment (far transfer). Results: Significant between-group differences were found, with the vividness of kinesthetic imagery and the walking test results improving more in the motor imagery group than in the muscle relaxation group. There was no group interaction effect for the far transfer outcome score. Conclusion: Motor imagery training may have a beneficial task-specific effect on gait function in sub-acute stroke; however, longer term confirmation is required

An exploratory study of imagining sounds and “hearing” music in autism

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) reportedly possess preserved or superior music-processing skills compared to their typically developing counterparts. We examined auditory imagery and earworms (tunes that get “stuck” in the head) in adults with ASD and controls. Both groups completed a short earworm questionnaire together with the Bucknell Auditory Imagery Scale. Results showed poorer auditory imagery in the ASD group for all types of auditory imagery. However, the ASD group did not report fewer earworms than matched controls. These data suggest a possible basis in poor auditory imagery for poor prosody in ASD, but also highlight a separability between auditory imagery and control of musical memories. The separability is present in the ASD group but not in typically developing individuals

Measuring athlete imagery ability: the Sport Imagery Ability Questionnaire

Based on literature identifying movement imagery, observation, and execution to elicit similar areas of neural activity, research has demonstrated movement imagery and observation to successfully prime movement execution. To investigate whether movement and observation could prime ease of imaging from an external visual imagery perspective, an internal visual imagery perspective, and kinaesthetic modality, 36 participants (M$_{age}$ = 20.58; SD = 3.11; 18 female, 18 male) completed the Movement Imagery Questionnaire-3 under four modes of delivery (movement prime, external observation prime, internal observation prime, and image-only). Results revealed ease of imaging was significantly greater during the movement and observation prime conditions compared to the image-only condition (p < .05). Specifically when priming external visual imagery and internal visual imagery, observation only facilitated ease of imaging when the perspective was congruent with the imagery perspective. Results support the utilization of movement and observation to facilitate ease of imaging, but highlight the importance of considering visual perspective when using observation