Combining Motor Imagery With Action Observation Does Not Lead to a Greater Autonomic Response Than Motor Imagery Alone During Simple and Functional Movements: a Randomized Controlled Trial.
Condition: Autonomic Nervous System
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The main objective of this study was to compare the activation of the Sympathetic Nervous
      System in a program that combined Motor Imagery with Action Observation, in contrast to an
      isolated Motor Imagery program on the one hand in asymptomatic subjects and in the other hand
      in patients with chronic low back pain.
    

Detailed description: 
      Motor Imagery (MI) is defined as a dynamic mental process that involves the representation of
      an action, in an internal way, without its actual motor execution. The Action Observation
      (AO) evokes an internal, real-time motor simulation of the movements that the observer is
      perceiving visually. Both mental processes trigger the activation of the neurocognitive
      mechanisms that underlie the planning and execution of voluntary movements in a manner that
      resembles how the action is performed in a real manner.

      Both observation and imagination share a great number of common mental processes based
      primarily on sensory perception, and the information stored by memory systems. The activation
      of the motor command during a mental practice does not induce an active movement probably due
      to an inhibitory mechanism in the primary motor cortex on the descending corticospinal tract
      pathways. However, this inhibition is not complete, for it is well known that the training of
      mental practice involves a component of the autonomic nervous system (ANS).

      It has been shown that both MI and AO lead to changes in the ANS that cause excitatory
      sympathetic responses, although the neurophysiological bases remain uncertain and are still
      based on hypotheses. The functional relations between both neurocognitive processes and the
      sympathetic-excitatory nervous system (SNS) could be based on a preparation phase in which,
      the activation of the SNS, happens to a near effort and, therefore, to a close energy
      expenditure in physiological processes (i.e., cardiorespiratory adaptationse) which will take
      place in order to face said metabolic changes produced by the voluntary movement itself. In
      addition, several hypotheses have been described regarding the notion that the SNS not only
      has the quantitative objective of providing energy to the muscle effectors, but that it also
      qualitatively and specifically designs and adapts the parameters on demand in an attempt to
      save the energy provided for each precise motor execution.

      Taking into account that both MI and AO cause sympathetic-excitatory changes that induce an
      increase in heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, electrodermal activity , our
      hypothesis is that the combination of MI and AO induces an autonomic sympathetic-excitatory
      shift greater than MI does in isolation. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to
      compare the results obtained from intervention groups on the subject of the activation of the
      SNS in a program that combined MI with AO, in contrast to an isolated MI program on the one
      hand in asymptomatic subjects and in the other hand in patients with chronic low back pain..
      The secondary objective of the present study was to explore whether there is any relationship
      between the sympathetic-excitatory response and the ability to generate motor imagery, the
      mental chronometry, and the level of physical activity.
    

Intervention name(s): Motor Imagery; Action Observation
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Two consecutive 30 seconds imagery tasks were performed, both based on two movements that are recorded in the Revised Movement Imagery Questionnaire (MIQ-R).; Two consecutive 30 seconds imagery tasks were performed, both based on two movements that are recorded in the Revised Movement Imagery Questionnaire (MIQ-R). Before the subjects performed the mental MI practice, they were presented with a 30 seconds video that displayed the task that they ought to imagine later. A video was played prior to the first practice of imagination and after the second mental practice, a second video was shown.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Basic Science
Keywords: Motor Imagery; Action Observation; Heart Rate; Respiration Rate; Electrodermal Activity