Different factors determining Motor Execution and Motor Imagery performance in a serial reaction time task with intrinsic variability

TL;DR

This study compares motor execution and motor imagery performance in a serial reaction time task, revealing different influencing factors and performance improvements in imagery despite intrinsic variability.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the functional differences and similarities between motor imagery and execution in a complex task with intrinsic variability.

Findings

Motor imagery performance improves over time.

Reaction times are influenced by different factors in imagery versus execution.

Intrinsic variability affects performance differently in both conditions.

Abstract

Motor imagery corresponds to the mental practice of simulating visual and kinesthetic aspects of a given motor task. This practice shares a similar neural substrate and correlated temporal scale with motor execution. Besides that, it can lead to performance improvements in the actual execution of the imagined task. Therefore it is important to understand functional differences and equivalences between motor imagery and motor execution. To tackle that we employed a finger-tapping serial reaction time task in two groups of participants, a Motor Execution (n=10) and a Motor imagery (n=10). The sequence of stimuli defining the task had 750 items composed of three distinct auditory stimuli. Also, this sequence had some intrinsic variability making some of the next items unpredictable. Each auditory stimulus was mapped to a single right hand finger in the Motor Imagery group. The Motor imagery group indicated the end of the imagination with a single response using the left hand. The results show improvement in performance of the Motor Imagery group throughout the task and that the duration of the motor imagery, indirectly measured by reaction times, are influenced by distinct factors than those of Motor Execution.