Barbara Spano'1, Mara Cercignani1,
Marco Bozzali1, Cristiano Pecchioli2, Giacomo Koch2,3,
Carlo Caltagirone3,4, Barbara Marconi2
1Neuroimaging Laboratory, Santa
Lucia Foundation, IRCCS, Via Ardeatina 306, 00179 Rome, Italy, Rome, Lazio,
Italy; 2Laboratory of Clinical & Behavioral Neurology, Santa
Lucia Foundation, IRCCS, Via Ardeatina 306, 00179 Rome, Italy, Rome, Lazio,
Italy; 3Department of Neuroscience, University of Rome Tor
Vergata, Viale Oxford 81, 00133 Rome, Italy, Italy; 4Department
of Clinical & Behavioural Neurology, Santa Lucia Foundation, IRCCS, Via
Ardeatina 306, 00179 Rome, Italy, Rome, Lazio, Italy
This paper describes, using fMRI, the effects of a 2-week training with foot motor imagery in driving cortical reorganization in a group of HS. The results suggest that mental practice with motor imagery is able to induce changes in the pattern of fMRI activations during motor tasks, mainly due to recruitment of association cortex. The effects of motor imagery training were also investigated in a single amputee, showing modifications of the functional activation of the primary motor cortex.
Keywords