Mental imagery content is associated with disease severity and specific brain functional connectivity changes in patients with Parkinson ’s disease

In this study, we further examined the neural correlates of the motor enhancement as a result of the VI training by analyzing the self-reported VI content duri ng daily practice and relating its quality to the functional connectivity characteristics of the same subjects. We demonstrated that the VI practice encompassed multisensory, spatial, affective, and executive processes all of which are also important for motor function in real life. Subjects with wo rse global disease severity also showed poorer quality of the VI content. Finally, the quality of the VI content showed significant positive correlations with the functional connectivity changes during the VI tasks in brain areas supporting visuospatial and sensorimotor processes. Our findings sugge st that mental imagery training combining VI and MI may enhance motor function in patients with mild PD, and more broadly, underline the importance of incorporating self-reports of thoughts and experiences in neuroimaging studies that examine the brain mechanisms of complex cognitive processes espec ially in neuropsychiatric patient populations.
Source: Brain Imaging and Behavior - Category: Neurology Source Type: research