Comparative analysis of actual and mental movement times in two graphic tasks
Abstract
This study compared the temporal organization of graphic movements executed either actually or mentally. Six subjects had to perform two tasks, writing a sentence and drawing a cube, either as a real performance or as an imagined one, with either the right or the left hand, and with either a small or a large tracing amplitude. In the same subject, for the same hand, mental and actual movement times were both very stable and very close from trial to trial regardless of the tracing amplitude. Thus, mental movements mimic closely real movements in their temporal organization and are likely to involve the same planning program.
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Motor execution and motor imagery have similar completion time courses.
“Because previous studies suggest that the time courses for completing motor execution and imagery are comparable (Decety and Michel, 1989; Decety et al., 1989; Sirigu et al., 1995, 1996)”
From Mental imagery of speech and movement implicates the dynamics of internal forward models (2010) · cites this paper as Decety and Michel, 1989
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Cites
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The mental representation of hand movements after parietal cortex damage
Sirigu, A., Duhamel, J.-R., Cohen, L., Pillon, B., Dubois, B., & Agid, Y. (1996) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.273.5281.1564 · Cited by 836 · see citing works
Do imagined and executed actions share the same neural substrate?
Decety, J. (1996) · Cognitive Brain Research · doi:10.1016/0926-6410(95)00033-x · Cited by 643 · see citing works
The phenomenology of action: a conceptual framework
Pacherie, E. (2008) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2007.09.003 · Cited by 618 · see citing works
Congruent unilateral impairments for real and imagined hand movements
Sirigu, A., Cohen, L., Duhamel, J. R., Pillon, B., Dubois, B., Agid, Y., & Pierrot-Deseilligny, C. (1995) · NeuroReport · doi:10.1097/00001756-199505090-00012 · Cited by 281 · see citing works
Mental imagery of speech and movement implicates the dynamics of internal forward models
Tian, X. (2010) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00166 · Cited by 259 · see citing works
“Because previous studies suggest that the time courses for completing motor execution and imagery are comparable (Decety and Michel, 1989; Decety et al., 1989; Sirigu et al., 1995, 1996), under the assumption that the kinesthetic feeling is elicited at a similar latency as the latency of an overt execution response, t…”
Tian, X., & Poeppel, D. (2012) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2012.00314 · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Patherie, E. (2000) · Mind & Language · doi:10.1111/1468-0017.00142 · Cited by 159 · see citing works
- Authors
- Decety, J., & Michel, F.
- Affiliations
- Inserm (FR)
- Venue
- Brain and Cognition
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1989-09
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 87-97
- ISSN
- 0278-2626 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2025405929
- Cited by
- 341
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 1.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Brain and Cognition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Motor Control and Adaptation
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Free Will and Agency
- Keywords
- mental imagery, motor imagery, movement time, drawings, writing, handedness, motor planning
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Eye Movements, Female, Handwriting, Humans, Imagination, Kinesthesis, Functional Laterality, Male, Psychomotor Performance, Time Perception
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