The relationship between motor imagery ability and corticospinal excitability when gazing at voluntary hand movements in a mirror

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24650336
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Rehabilitation science/Welfare engineering
• Research Institution: Niigata University of Health and Welfare
• Principal Investigator: IWANAMI Jun 新潟医療福祉大学, 医療技術学部, 助教 (00625931)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): OYAMA Mineo 新潟医療福祉大学, 医療技術学部作業療法学科, 教授 (10367427)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: ミラーセラピー / 運動イメージ / 経頭蓋磁気刺激

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Recently, it was reported that individual motor imagery ability is associated with corticospinal excitability during motor imagery. However, the relationship between motor imagery ability and corticospinal excitability during mirror therapy has not been clarified. This study aimed to determine whether corticospinal excitability while gazing at voluntary hand movements in a mirror is related to motor imagery ability. Transcranial magnetic stimulation was delivered while gazing at voluntary movements of the left hand in a mirror, and motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were measured. Motor imagery ability was measured using the Movement Imagery Questionnaire-Revised Second Version (MIQ-RS). There was a significant correlation between change in MEP and scores on the kinesthetic component of the MIQ-RS. Therefore, it is important that kinesthetic motor imagery ability be evaluated to predict the efficacy of mirror therapy.

Free Research Field

リハビリテーション科学