NCT06478303

LAnguage-Motor Imagery Circuits to Improve Motor Learning and Language Comprehension

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 105 (estimated)
• Sponsor: University Hospital, Grenoble · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 40 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Recent evidence suggests that cognitive systems do not operate in isolation but interact within broader networks, thus opening new avenues for fundamental and clinical research. An illustrative example is the interaction between language comprehension and motor representations. For instance, motor training (e.g., sports, origami training) can facilitate action verb recognition, whereas motor deficits (e.g., upper limb immobilization) can hinder the processing of action language. Similarly, action language has been shown to affect motor performance. These effects are attributed to an implicit form of motor imagery, an automatic simulation of motor experience (without actual movement) evoked by action words. Interestingly, literature supports the idea that the motor simulations used for imagining an action are also engaged during the reading of action language, leading to similar neurophysiological and behavioral changes in both processes. However, questions remain about the similarity of the simulations generated by motor imagery and action language. This project, encompassing three experimental sequences, aims to address these questions to achieve significant scientific advancements in both theoretical and applied domains.

Conditions

• Corticospinal Excitability
• Cortical Activation

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Motor imagery	Participants were asked to imagine arm or foot movements.
OTHER	Action reading	Participants were asked to read sentences involving arm or foot movements
OTHER	Motor localizer	Participants were asked to perform arm or foot movements

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-07-27
• Primary completion: 2027-07-26
• Completion: 2028-07-26
• First posted: 2024-06-27
• Last updated: 2024-08-02

Locations

2 sites across 1 country: France