title: Motor imagery: lessons learned in movement science might be applicable for spaceflight.
abstract: Before participating in a space mission, astronauts undergo parabolic-flight and underwater training to facilitate their subsequent adaptation to weightlessness. Unfortunately, similar training methods can't be used to prepare re-adaptation to planetary gravity. Here, we propose a quick, simple and inexpensive approach that could be used to prepare astronauts both for the absence and for the renewed presence of gravity. This approach is based on motor imagery (MI), a process in which actions are produced in working memory without any overt output. Training protocols based on MI have repeatedly been shown to modify brain circuitry and to improve motor performance in healthy young adults, healthy seniors and stroke victims, and are routinely used to optimize performance of elite athletes. We propose to use similar protocols preflight, to prepare for weightlessness, and late inflight, to prepare for landing.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physiology and Anatomy, German Sport University Köln, Germany.
authors.forename: Otmar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Bock
authors.affiliation: Institute of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Stuttgart Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Nadja
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Schott
authors.affiliation: Université de Bourgogne, Unité de Formation et de Recherche en Sciences et Techniques des Activités Physiques et Sportives Dijon, France ; Institut National de la Santé et de Recherche Médicale (INSERM), UMR U1093, Cognition, Action, et Plasticité Sensorimotrice (CAPS) Dijon, France.
authors.forename: Charalambos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Papaxanthis
keywords: countermeasures; mental practice; motor performance; spaceflight