Association between individual differences in gait motor imagery and visuo-spatial working memory after stroke

Motor imagery is a mental process in which an individual internally simulates movements without actual motor execution. Gait motor imagery is associated with visuospatial working memory (VSWM) among young adults. This study investigates how individual differences in gait motor imagery ability among stroke patients are related to VSWM. Gait motor imagery of 12 S patients with right hemisphere damage and 12 healthy older adults were evaluated and compared in this study. Gait motor imagery ability was evaluated by comparing actual and mental walking times while manipulating path width, whereas VSWM ability was evaluated using the Corsi Block-Tapping task. The results revealed that VSWM ability could predict the accuracy of gait motor imagery for both stroke patients and healthy controls; those with higher VSWM ability exhibited more overestimation of mental walking time over actual walking time. Additionally, based on the results of dividing stroke participants into two groups depending on whether they had right prefrontal cortex (PFC) damage, stroke patients with right PFC damage had decreased VSWM, and underestimated mental walking over actual walking for all path widths compared to those with non-right PFC damage. These results suggest that gait motor imagery accuracy is associated with individual differences in VSWM ability, particularly in patients affected by right PFC damage.