Motor imagery: lessons learned in movement science might be applicable for spaceflight.
Fiche publication
Date publication
janvier 2015
Journal
Frontiers in systems neuroscience
Auteurs
Membres identifiés du Cancéropôle Est :
Pr PAPAXANTHIS Charalambos
Tous les auteurs :
Bock O, Schott N, Papaxanthis C
Lien Pubmed
Résumé
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.
Mots clés
countermeasures, mental practice, motor performance, spaceflight
Référence
Front Syst Neurosci. 2015 ;9:75