doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.06.025 
Copyright © 2006 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.
Adapting movement planning to motor impairments: The motor-scanning system
Magdalena Sabatéa, 
, 
, Belén Gonzáleza and Manuel Rodríguezb
aRehabilitation Service, Department of Physical Medicine and Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
bLaboratory of Neurobiology and Experimental Neurology, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Received 16 August 2005;
revised 11 May 2006;
accepted 2 June 2006.
Available online 17 August 2006.
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Abstract
Previous studies have reported a similar duration for movement execution (real movement) and its internal simulation with motor imagery (virtual movement). The present work has studied the real movement–virtual movement relationship for complex sequences of finger movements after different acute and chronic brain lesions and after a long-lasting restriction of right-hand movements. Age, hand-movement restriction and lesions of pyramidal system, basal ganglia and cerebellum did not prevent the high real movement–virtual movement correlation. The data suggest that movement execution and its internal simulation share the same neuronal basis. However, the calculation of virtual delay (a useful procedure for detecting small real movement–virtual movement differences) showed significant real movement–virtual movement mismatches, suggesting the existence of a separate and selective system that, continuously scanning the competence of the different elements participating in motor behavior, adjusts the planning of future movements to the real capability of the motor system.
Keywords: Motor imagery; Hand; Stroke; Parkinson's disease; Movement restriction
Fig. 1. Real and virtual movement relationship in young controls and aged-matched controls: (A) Correlation real movement vs. virtual movement and (B) real and virtual movement duration in young- and mature-controls. Data were normalized as % of real movement duration in young-controls. *p < 0.001 vs. young control (t-test for independent samples). Values are mean ± standard error.
Fig. 2. Real and virtual movement after pyramidal (A and B), basal ganglia (C and D) and cerebellar (E and F) chronic lesions. Left side (A, C and E) shows the correlation between real movement vs. virtual movement. Right-side (B, D and F) shows the real and virtual movement duration. All values were normalized as % of real movement duration in aged-matched controls. *p < 0.001 hand contra-lateral to the lesion vs. aged-matched control; o p < 0.001 vs. hand ipsi-lateral to the lesion. Values are mean ± standard error.
Fig. 3. Post-lesion evolution of real and virtual movements in pyramidal patients. Real–virtual relationship 1 week (A), 2 months (B) and 8 months (C) after stroke. Virtual (D) and real (E) movement duration in the hand ipsi-lateral (open bars) and contra-lateral (shadowed bars) to the stroke. All values were normalized as % of real movement duration in aged-matched controls (left-side bars in D and E). Values in D and E are mean ± standard error.
Fig. 4. Effect of chronic motor restriction on real and virtual movement execution. Real–virtual relationship in the restricted (C) and un-restricted (B) hand of patients suffering from osseous impairments for more than 2 months vs. that observed in aged-matched controls (A). Real (D) and virtual (E) movement duration, and virtual delay (F) in the un-restricted and restricted hand vs. aged-matched controls (left-side of these figures). Data in B and C were normalized as % of real movement duration in aged-matched controls. Data in D and E were normalized as % of duration of real movement performed by controls with the right-hand. Values in (D)–(F) are mean ± standard error.
Fig. 5. Virtual delay under different motor circumstances. In A the virtual delay observed after motor restriction (osseous impairment) in the right-hand and after chronic lesions in the basal ganglia (Parkinson's disease), left brain cortex and left cerebellum (crb) are shown vs. young- controls and mature-controls. The virtual delay evolution after acute strokes in the left brain pyramidal system is shown in B.
Table 1.
Sequence of finger's movement
Sequence of finger movements performed during the different tasks. Numbers on the top line correspond to the order of finger movements within each motor pattern. The fingers which are consecutively moved during each motor sequence are indicated in the following lines by letters (see figure on the right). Each line represents a different task beginning with the movement of the finger in column 1 and continuing until the end of the line when it returns to the first movement until 10 sequences were performed for each task.
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