No graded responses of finger muscles to TMS during motor imagery of isometric finger forces

Previous studies of motor imagery have shown that the same neural correlates for actual movement are selectively activated during motor imagery of the same movement. However, little is known about motor imagery of isometric force. The aim of the present study was to investigate the neural correlates involved in motor imagery of isometric finger forces. Ten subjects were instructed to produce a finger flexion or extension force ranging from 10% to 60% of maximal isometric force and to mentally reproduce the force after an eight-second delay period. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was applied over the hand motor area during imagining the force. We measured the amplitude of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) from the flexor digitorum superfialis (FDS) and the extensor digitorum communis (EDC) muscles and TMS-induced forces from the proximal phalanxes. The results showed that, as compared to the rest condition, the MEP amplitude was greater in the FDS during imagining flexion forces, whereas it was greater in the EDC during imagining extension forces. MEP amplitudes were similar for motor imagery of graded flexion or extension forces. Also, TMS produced flexion forces during imagining flexion forces, whereas it produced extension forces during imagining extension forces. There was no change in the amplitude of TMS-induced forces across graded motor imagery task. These results support the notion that the same neural correlates for actual movement could be selectively activated during motor imagery of the same movement, but demonstrated that the magnitude of isometric force could not be mentally simulated. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.