The Brain Activation of Two Motor Imagery Strategies in a Mental Rotation Task
<b>Background:</b> Motor imagery includes visual imagery and kinesthetic imagery, which are two strategies that exist for mental rotation and are currently widely studied. However, different mental rotation tests can lead to different strategic performances. There are also many research...
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MDPI AG
2024-12-01
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| author | Cancan Wang Yuxuan Yang Kewei Sun Yifei Wang Xiuchao Wang Xufeng Liu |
| author_facet | Cancan Wang Yuxuan Yang Kewei Sun Yifei Wang Xiuchao Wang Xufeng Liu |
| author_sort | Cancan Wang |
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| description | <b>Background:</b> Motor imagery includes visual imagery and kinesthetic imagery, which are two strategies that exist for mental rotation and are currently widely studied. However, different mental rotation tests can lead to different strategic performances. There are also many research results where two different strategies appear simultaneously under the same task. Previous studies on the comparative brain mechanisms of kinesthetic imagery and visual imagery have not adopted consistent stimulus images or mature mental rotation paradigms, making it difficult to effectively compare these types of imagery. <b>Methods:</b> In this study, we utilized functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate the brain activation of sixty-seven young right-handed participants with different strategy preferences during hand lateral judgment tasks (HLJT). <b>Results:</b> The results showed that the accuracy of the kinesthetic imagery group was significantly higher than that of the visual imagery group, and the reaction time of the kinesthetic imagery group was significantly shorter than that of the visual imagery group. The areas significantly activated in the kinesthetic imagery group were wider than those in the visual imagery group, including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA9, 46), premotor cortex (BA6), supplementary motor area (SMA), primary motor cortex (BA4), and parietal cortex (BA7, 40). It is worth noting that the activation levels in the frontal eye fields (BA8), primary somatosensory cortex (BA1, 2, 3), primary motor cortex (BA4), and parietal cortex (BA40) of the kinesthetic imagery group were significantly higher than those in the visual imagery group. <b>Conclusion:</b> Therefore, we speculate that kinesthetic imagery has more advantages than visual imagery in the mental rotation of egocentric transformations. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6062da92a56c4a1ca1ab3b440c2cb318 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2076-3425 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
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| series | Brain Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-6062da92a56c4a1ca1ab3b440c2cb3182025-01-24T13:25:38ZengMDPI AGBrain Sciences2076-34252024-12-01151810.3390/brainsci15010008The Brain Activation of Two Motor Imagery Strategies in a Mental Rotation TaskCancan Wang0Yuxuan Yang1Kewei Sun2Yifei Wang3Xiuchao Wang4Xufeng Liu5Department of Military Medical Psychology, Air Force Medical University, Xi’an 710032, ChinaDepartment of Military Medical Psychology, Air Force Medical University, Xi’an 710032, ChinaDepartment of Military Medical Psychology, Air Force Medical University, Xi’an 710032, ChinaDepartment of Military Medical Psychology, Air Force Medical University, Xi’an 710032, ChinaDepartment of Military Medical Psychology, Air Force Medical University, Xi’an 710032, ChinaDepartment of Military Medical Psychology, Air Force Medical University, Xi’an 710032, China<b>Background:</b> Motor imagery includes visual imagery and kinesthetic imagery, which are two strategies that exist for mental rotation and are currently widely studied. However, different mental rotation tests can lead to different strategic performances. There are also many research results where two different strategies appear simultaneously under the same task. Previous studies on the comparative brain mechanisms of kinesthetic imagery and visual imagery have not adopted consistent stimulus images or mature mental rotation paradigms, making it difficult to effectively compare these types of imagery. <b>Methods:</b> In this study, we utilized functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate the brain activation of sixty-seven young right-handed participants with different strategy preferences during hand lateral judgment tasks (HLJT). <b>Results:</b> The results showed that the accuracy of the kinesthetic imagery group was significantly higher than that of the visual imagery group, and the reaction time of the kinesthetic imagery group was significantly shorter than that of the visual imagery group. The areas significantly activated in the kinesthetic imagery group were wider than those in the visual imagery group, including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA9, 46), premotor cortex (BA6), supplementary motor area (SMA), primary motor cortex (BA4), and parietal cortex (BA7, 40). It is worth noting that the activation levels in the frontal eye fields (BA8), primary somatosensory cortex (BA1, 2, 3), primary motor cortex (BA4), and parietal cortex (BA40) of the kinesthetic imagery group were significantly higher than those in the visual imagery group. <b>Conclusion:</b> Therefore, we speculate that kinesthetic imagery has more advantages than visual imagery in the mental rotation of egocentric transformations.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/15/1/8motor imageryvisual imagerykinesthetic imagerymental rotationfNIRS |
| spellingShingle | Cancan Wang Yuxuan Yang Kewei Sun Yifei Wang Xiuchao Wang Xufeng Liu The Brain Activation of Two Motor Imagery Strategies in a Mental Rotation Task Brain Sciences motor imagery visual imagery kinesthetic imagery mental rotation fNIRS |
| title | The Brain Activation of Two Motor Imagery Strategies in a Mental Rotation Task |
| title_full | The Brain Activation of Two Motor Imagery Strategies in a Mental Rotation Task |
| title_fullStr | The Brain Activation of Two Motor Imagery Strategies in a Mental Rotation Task |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Brain Activation of Two Motor Imagery Strategies in a Mental Rotation Task |
| title_short | The Brain Activation of Two Motor Imagery Strategies in a Mental Rotation Task |
| title_sort | brain activation of two motor imagery strategies in a mental rotation task |
| topic | motor imagery visual imagery kinesthetic imagery mental rotation fNIRS |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/15/1/8 |
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