title: External cueing improves motor imagery quality in patients with Parkinson disease.
abstract: 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 goal-directed aiming task and a box-and-block task, both in the presence and absence of visual and auditory cues. Mental chronometry and eye movement recording allowed objective evaluation of the temporal and spatial characteristics of MI when compared with physical execution. Visual analogue scales were used to assess imagery vividness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The presence of visual cues significantly reduced the patients' bradykinesia during MI and increased their imagery vividness.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Visual cueing optimizes MI quality for PD patients and is a potential tool to increase the efficacy of MI practice in PD rehabilitation.
authors.affiliation: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Elke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Heremans
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nieuwboer
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Feys
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vercruysse
authors.forename: Wim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Vandenberghe
authors.forename: Nikhil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Werner F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Helsen
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003463:Cues; D004576:Electromyography; D004585:Electrooculography; D005133:Eye Movements; D005260:Female; D005542:Forearm; D006801:Humans; D018476:Hypokinesia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007092:Imagination; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis