The relationship between corticospinal excitability and behavioural measures of movement imagery ability

TL;DR

This study explores how the brain's excitability relates to the ability to imagine movements, using both behavioral and neurophysiological measures.

Contribution

The study introduces a comprehensive evaluation of neuro-behavioural correlates of movement imagery using Bayesian correlations.

Findings

The study will assess the relationship between movement imagery processes and corticospinal excitability.

Bayesian correlations will evaluate neuro-behavioural links during movement imagery.

Results will clarify how brain activity relates to the ability to imagine movements.

Abstract

Imagining a movement without executing it has measurable effects on physical performance, learning, and rehabilitation. However, these effects rely on our ability to imagine performing actions, a complex, covert skill that is difficult to quantify. While movement imagery ability can be assessed by behavioural methods or measuring its neural correlates, the relationship between these measures is uncertain. This Registered Report will determine the association between three key behavioural processes during movement imagery – generation, maintenance and manipulation – and well-established neurophysiological measures of corticospinal excitability and intracortical inhibition during imagery, obtained via Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. A behavioural battery including a questionnaire, a ‘mental chronometry’ task, and a hand rotation task will be collected alongside the amplitude of Motor Evoked Potentials and the change in Short Interval Cortical Inhibition during imagery. Bayesian correlations will assess the association between these measures to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the neuro-behavioural correlates of movement imagery.

Moreno-Verdú et al. report that this Registered Report will determine how behavioural processes of movement imagery – generation, maintenance and manipulation – relate to corticospinal excitability and intracortical inhibition measured with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. Bayesian correlations will provide a comprehensive evaluation of the neuro-behavioural links underlying movement imagery.

Graphical Abstract

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