Vegetative response during imagined movement is proportional to mental effort

Behavioural Brain ResearchPublished 1 January 1991

Jean Decety, Marc Jeannerod, M. Germain, J. Pastene

DOI10.1016/s0166-4328(05)80033-6

Source URL

Citations429

SJR quartileQ2

SJR score0.92

SNIP0.77

Abstract

Measurement of cardiac and respiratory activity during mental simulation of locomotion at increasing speed revealed a covariation of heart rate and pulmonary ventilation with the degree of imagined effort. The degree of vegetative activation of a subject mentally running at 12 km/h was comparable to that of a subject actually walking at 5 km/h. This effect cannot be explained by an increase in peripheral (e.g. muscular) metabolic demands. Indeed, oxygen uptake decreased during motor imagery. This finding is suggestive of a commonality of neural structures responsible for mental imagery of movement and those responsible for programming actual movement. In addition, it provides an quantifiable way of testing mental imagery in relation to movement by using easily accessible biological markers.

Keywords

PsychologyNeuroscienceEngineering

Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & PerformanceVisual images preserve metric spatial information: Evidence from studies of image scanning.

892 Citations1978Stephen M. Kosslyn, Thomas M. Ball +1 more

Four experiments demonstrated that more time is required to scan further distances across visual images, even when the same amount of material falls between the initial focus point and the target, and that times systematically increase with distance.

Behavioural Brain ResearchThe timing of mentally represented actions

772 Citations1989Jean Decety, Marc Jeannerod +1 more

The performance of subjects walking blindly to previously inspected visual targets (located at 5, 10 or 15 m from the subjects) was studied in 2 experiments and neural parameters encoded in the motor program for actually executing or mentally performing an action were discussed.

Cognitive PsychologyImagined spatial transformations of one's hands and feet

642 Citations1987Lawrence M. Parsons

The results and others suggest that kinematic and temporal properties of imagined spatial transformations are more object-specific in nature than could be previously assumed.

Journal of NeurophysiologyDifferent cortical areas in man in organization of voluntary movements in extrapersonal space

416 Citations1980P. E. Roland, E Skinhöj +2 more

It is concluded that the supplementary motor areas, which are also active during programming and execution of movement sequences in intrapersonal space (33), elaborate programs for motor subroutines necessary in skilled voluntary motion are concluded.

ScienceExercise Hyperpnea and Locomotion: Parallel Activation from the Hypothalamus

412 Citations1981Frederic L. Eldridge, David E. Millhorn +1 more

Hypothalamic command signals are primarily responsible for the proportional driving of locomotion and respiration during exercise in paralyzed animals.

PsychophysiologyEmotional Imagery: Conceptual Structure and Pattern of Somato‐Visceral Response

404 Citations1980Peter J. Lang, Michael J. Kozak +3 more

This research examined deductions from a new theory of emotional imagery, testing the hypothesis that the conceptual content processed during imagery determines the amplitude and pattern of coincident efferent activity.

Brain ResearchThe cerebellum participates in mental activity: tomographic measurements of regional cerebral blood flow

368 Citations1990Jean Decety, Hans Sjo ̈holm +3 more

Brain and CognitionComparative analysis of actual and mental movement times in two graphic tasks

332 Citations1989Jean Decety, Michel François

In the same subject, mental and actual movement times were both very stable and very close from trial to trial regardless of the tracing amplitude.

The European Journal of Cognitive PsychologyScanning visual images generated from verbal descriptions

128 Citations1989Michel Denis, Marguerite Cocude

Journal of Applied PhysiologyBreathing pattern and metabolic behavior during anticipation of exercise

77 Citations1986Michael Tobin, William Quintero Pérez +3 more

The hypothesis that cortical activity associated with the anticipation of exercise causes hyperpnea, which is at least partly responsible for the increased ventilation at the onset of exercise, is tested.