Publicaties

We recently found that spontaneous eye movements occur during motor imagery of hand movements, which are similar to those made during physical execution. In physical execution, eye movements have been shown to play an important role during training. In motor imagery practice, however, their effect remains unclear. Therefore, in the present study, we examined the role of eye movements during motor imagery practice with specific interest in the ...

Motor imagery (MI) is the mental execution of actions without overt movements that depends on the ability to imagine. We explored whether this ability could be related to the cortical activity of the brain areas involved in the MI network. To this goal, brain activity was recorded using high-density electroencephalography in nineteen healthy adults while visually imagining walking on a straight path. We extracted Event-Related Desynchronizations ...

Background: Motor imagery (MI) was recently shown to be a promising tool in neurorehabilitation. The ability to perform motor imagery, however, may be impaired in part of the patients with neurological dysfunction. Objective: To assess the relation between cognitive and motor dysfunction and MI ability in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods: 30 patients with MS underwent a cognitive and motor screening, as well as performed a ...

Background. Motor imagery has recently gained attention as a promising new rehabilitation method for patients with neurological disorders. Up to now, however, it has been unclear whether this practice method can also be successfully applied in the rehabilitation of patients with Parkinson disease (PD). Objective. This study aimed to investigate whether the motor imagery ability of patients with PD is still intact despite basal ganglia ...

Motor imagery is a promising new intervention strategy within neurological rehabilitation. However, previous studies have shown that the ability to perform motor imagery is not well preserved in all neurological patients. Therefore, patients’ motor imagery ability needs to be thoroughly examined when they are included in motor imagery rehabilitation programs or studies. In the past, objective methods to evaluate motor imagery were lacking ...

Objective: To evaluate the effect of mental practice on motor imagery ability and assess the influence of motor imagery on gait rehabilitation in sub-acute stroke. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Subjects: A total of 44 patients with gait dysfunction after first-ever stroke were randomly allocated to a motor imagery training group and a muscle relaxation group. Methods: The motor imagery group received 6 weeks of daily mental practice. The ...

Background. Patients with Parkinson disease (PD) are often profoundly slow in their performance of physical tasks, as well as in motor imagery (MI). This may limit the implementation and potential benefits of MI practice during rehabilitation. Objective. The authors investigated whether the quality of MI could be improved by external cueing. Methods. Fourteen patients with PD and 14 healthy controls physically executed and visually imagined a ...

Motor imagery (MI) is a promising practice tool in neurorehabilitation. In patients with MS, however, impairments in MI accuracy and temporal organisation were found during clinical assessment, which may limit the benefits of MI practice. Therefore, we investigated whether the MI quality of MS patients could be optimised by means of external cueing. 14 patients with MS and 14 healthy controls physically executed and visually imagined a ...