TY - JOUR
T1 - Modulation of corticospinal excitability dependent upon imagined force level
AU - Mizuguchi, Nobuaki
AU - Umehara, Izumi
AU - Nakata, Hiroki
AU - Kanosue, Kazuyuki
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments The authors thank Dr. Larry Crawshaw for English editing. This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI 24800092 and Grant-in-Aid from the Global COE “Sport Sciences for the Promotion of Active Life,” Waseda University, from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan.
PY - 2013/10
Y1 - 2013/10
N2 - Motor imagery is defined as the mental execution of a movement without any muscle activity. In the present study, corticospinal excitability was assessed by motor evoked potentials (MEPs) when the subjects imagined isometric elbow flexion at various force levels. Electromyography was recorded from the right brachioradialis, the biceps brachii and the triceps brachii muscles. First, the maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) of elbow flexion was recorded in each subject. Subjects practiced performing 10, 30 and 60 % MVC using visual feedback. After the practice, MEPs were recorded during the imagery of elbow flexion with the forces of 10, 30 and 60 % MVC without any feedback. After the MEPs recording, we assigned subjects to reproduce the actual elbow flexion force at 10, 30 and 60 % MVC. The MEPs amplitudes in the brachioradialis and biceps brachii in the 60 % MVC condition were significantly greater than those in the 10 % MVC condition (p < 0.05). These findings suggest that the enhancement of corticospinal excitability during motor imagery is associated with an increase in imagined force level.
AB - Motor imagery is defined as the mental execution of a movement without any muscle activity. In the present study, corticospinal excitability was assessed by motor evoked potentials (MEPs) when the subjects imagined isometric elbow flexion at various force levels. Electromyography was recorded from the right brachioradialis, the biceps brachii and the triceps brachii muscles. First, the maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) of elbow flexion was recorded in each subject. Subjects practiced performing 10, 30 and 60 % MVC using visual feedback. After the practice, MEPs were recorded during the imagery of elbow flexion with the forces of 10, 30 and 60 % MVC without any feedback. After the MEPs recording, we assigned subjects to reproduce the actual elbow flexion force at 10, 30 and 60 % MVC. The MEPs amplitudes in the brachioradialis and biceps brachii in the 60 % MVC condition were significantly greater than those in the 10 % MVC condition (p < 0.05). These findings suggest that the enhancement of corticospinal excitability during motor imagery is associated with an increase in imagined force level.
KW - Force
KW - Motor evoked potentials
KW - Motor imagery
KW - Transcranial magnetic stimulation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84887433673&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84887433673&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00221-013-3649-3
DO - 10.1007/s00221-013-3649-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 23877227
AN - SCOPUS:84887433673
SN - 0014-4819
VL - 230
SP - 243
EP - 249
JO - Experimental Brain Research
JF - Experimental Brain Research
IS - 2
ER -