1media/stroke cover.jpg2019-11-15T11:27:57-08:00Why Mental Practice?15image_header2019-11-28T09:59:14-08:00Motor imagery (MI) involves imagining performing a movement without generating any movement output (Kumar et al., 2015). Mental practice (MP) uses motor imagery to cognitively rehearse a physical movement repeatedly with the intention of improving performance (Butler and Page, 2006). Studies looking at motor imagery ability in individuals with cerebral lesions have found that motor imagery is possible after stroke, even in people with chronic or severe motor impairments (Malouin and Richards, 2010).
Previous research has shown that when a movement is mentally simulated or physically executed, it uses similar autonomic responses and temporal organization (Malouin and Richards, 2010). In essence, autonomic responses such as heart rate and respiration rate vary with the degree of imagined effect (i.e. an imagined task that is more strenuous will elicit greater physiological reactions than a task that is less strenuous) (Butler and Page, 2006). In addition, the time taken to perform the same task mentally or physically take approximately the same amount of time and correspond to Fitts Law; the harder the task, the longer it takes to perform (Butler and Page, 2006). Lastly, and most importantly, the neural networks activated during mental practice and physical practice overlap (Figure 17), particularly when mental practice is done from a first-person perspective (Vries and Mulder, 2007). This perspective is most effective as it employs the use of both visual and kinesthetic cues (Malouin and Richards, 2010). This overlap is proposed to cause a ‘priming’ of the motor cortex and appropriate activation of the neuromotor pathways, making learning through physical practice more effective (Page et al., 2001; Allami et al., 2014). Including mental practice as an adjunct to physical practice will allow for the duration of physical practice, which can be taxing on the body, to be reduced without compromising performance improvements.
