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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 12, 2026

Motor Imagery Performance Through Embodied Digital Twins in a Virtual Reality-Enabled Brain-Computer Interface Environment
10:14

Motor Imagery Performance Through Embodied Digital Twins in a Virtual Reality-Enabled Brain-Computer Interface Environment

Published on: May 10, 2024

Perceptual and Motor Processes in Motor Imagery.

Jack P Solomon1,2, Ernest Ng1,2, David A Westwood2,3

  • 1Laboratory for Brain Recovery and Function, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.

The European Journal of Neuroscience
|June 4, 2025
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Motor imagery (MI) engages both perceptual and motor systems. Even with minimal exposure, motor imagery training can alter lifting force perception, demonstrating simulation of movement guides action.

Keywords:
motor controlmotor imagerysize weight illusionskill acquisition

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09:49

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Published on: April 16, 2014

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Motor Control
  • Perception-Action Coupling

Background:

  • The debate continues regarding whether motor imagery (MI) primarily engages the motor system or relies on perceptual/cognitive processes.
  • Understanding the nature of motor imagery is crucial for applications in rehabilitation and skill acquisition.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the interplay between perception and action during motor imagery using the size-weight illusion.
  • To determine if motor imagery training influences motor output in a manner consistent with perceptual illusions.

Main Methods:

  • Participants (n=57) were assigned to motor imagery (MI) or overt execution (OE) training groups.
  • The size-weight illusion was employed, where participants lifted bricks of equal mass but differing sizes.
  • Training involved varying exposure to the illusion (1 or 5 lifts) before post-training assessments.

Main Results:

  • Contrary to hypotheses, both overt execution and extensive motor imagery (5 lifts) maintained the illusion's effect.
  • Limited motor imagery (1 lift) led to a shift in weight perception, aligning with the illusion (larger objects feel heavier).
  • This perceptual shift in the MI-2 group was accompanied by adjusted lifting forces post-training.

Conclusions:

  • Motor imagery engages both perceptual and motor processes, challenging the notion of it being purely motor-based.
  • The simulation of motor components during motor imagery can guide subsequent actions and influence perception.
  • The degree of exposure to the illusion during training modulates the impact on both perception and motor output.