title: Motor imagery may incorporate trial-to-trial error.
abstract: The authors tested for 1/f noise in motor imagery (MI). Participants pointed and imagined pointing to a single target (Experiment 1), to targets of varied size (Experiment 2), and switched between pointing and grasping (Experiment 3). Experiment 1 showed comparable patterns of serial correlation in actual and imagined movement. Experiment 2 suggested increased correlation for MI and performance with increased task difficulty, perhaps reflecting adaptation to a more complex environment. Experiment 3 suggested a parallel decrease in correlation with task switching, perhaps reflecting discontinuity of mental set. Although present results do not conclusively reveal 1/f fluctuation, the emergent patterns suggest that MI could incorporate trial-to-trial error across a range of constraints.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA. andre.valdez@ymail.com
authors.forename: André B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Valdez
authors.forename: Eric L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Amazeen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D056228:Feedback, Sensory / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D009068:Movement; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance