Among them, regarding neurological factors, by using various neuroimaging techniques, the areas related to the movement of each body part such as hands and feet in the primary motor cortex that controls voluntary movement overlap with each other. It has been revealed.However, the neurological mechanism of the enslaving effect in the spinal motor nerves, which is finally involved in muscle contraction, has not been elucidated without a certain opinion.

　Motor imagery is a mental process that simulates movement in the brain without muscle contraction or movement, and it is said that movement image and actual movement have many common neural bases.

　Sumifumi Fumino and Professor Toshiaki Suzuki of the Kansai Medical University Graduate School are conducting research on the theme of motor image and excitability of spinal cord motor nerves. We attempted to elucidate the neurological mechanism of the enslaving effect at the spinal cord level by examining the excitatory changes in the spinal cord motor nerves that correspond to the muscles of the small fingers when imagining the movement of the spinal cord.

　As a result, the excitability of the spinal cord motor nerve corresponding to the muscle of the little finger increased during the image of the movement of the thumb, even though the subject was not given instructions regarding the movement of the little finger. The involvement of the spinal cord level in the mechanism was suggested.Furthermore, this study and previous studies revealed that motor images and voluntary movements share many neural bases at the brain and spinal cord levels.

　The results obtained in this study will be important findings for further studying the neurophysiological mechanisms involved in human motor control in the future.

Paper information:[Frontiers in Human Neuroscience] Thenar muscle motor imagery increases spinal motor neuron excitability of the abductor digiti minimi muscle