The Vividness of Motor Imagery Is Correlated With Corticospinal Excitability During Combined Motor Imagery and Action Observation

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between motor imagery (MI) assessment (ability and quality) and neurophysiological assessment (transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-induced motor-evoked potentials (MEP)) during MI. Sixteen subjects completed an MI task playing the piano with both hands, and neurophysiological assessment was performed during the MI task. The Motor Imagery Questionnaire-Revised was adopted to evaluate MI ability, while the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was adopted to evaluate MI quality. A TMS pulse was delivered during the MI task, and MEPs were subsequently recorded in the abductor pollicis brevis. We found a significant positive correlation between the VAS score and the TMS-induced MEPs (ρ = 0.497, p < 0.001). These findings suggest that the MI VAS score could potentially reflect the excitability of the primary motor cortex during MI, particularly in complex MI tasks.