Mental representations of movements. Brain potentials associated with imagination of eye movements.
OBJECTIVE
Current research in motor imagery is focused on similarities between actual and imagined movements on a central and a peripheral level of the nervous system. The present study measured slow cortical potentials (DC-potentials) during execution and internal simulation of memorized saccadic eye movements.


METHODS
In 19 healthy righthanded subjects DC-potentials were recorded from 28 electrodes during execution and during imagination of a sequence of memorized eye movements during a visual imagery condition.


RESULTS
Both oculomotor conditions showed a similar global level and similar topography of performance related DC-potentials, both strongly differed from the visual imagery condition and were lateralized to the left hemisphere.


CONCLUSIONS
This study therefore supports the hypothesis that cortical brain structures responsible for execution and imagination of memorized saccadic eye movements are similar. The observed left hemispheric lateralization is in contrast to a previous study using bimanual movements. This discrepancy is discussed in relation to recent observations in apractic patients with parietal lesions.
Department of Neurology, University of Berne, Switzerland.
P
P
Höllinger
R
R
Beisteiner
W
W
Lang
G
G
Lindinger
A
A
Berthoz
D000328:Adult; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D008297:Male; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology