Preliminar studies on the Kinesthetic and Visual Motor Imagery Index in young adults.

Aims: The aim of the study is to build an objective measure of the goodness of kinesthetic and visual motor imagery ability in a 1^ person perspective in young adults (18-35 y/o) with different motor experiences. Methods: It has been designed the “Kinesthetic and Visual Motor Imagery Index” (KVMII), a revisitation of the “Motor Imagery Index” by Collet and colleagues (2011), composed by psychological, chronometrical and physiological sub-indeces. The latter two, are measured in parallel during some simple motor actions and the following kinesthetic and visual motor imagery tasks. Also, we evaluate in parallel Heart Rate and Respiratory Sinus Arrythmia with a biofeedback portable device to built a “mini Kinesthetic and Visual Motor Imagery Index” (m-KVMII). The scores of the KVMII and the m-KVMII are correlated with psychological, biometric and personality variables that may act as protective or risk factors for the goodness of the motor imagery (MI) ability. Also, we measure the neural correlates in the participants assessed by the KVMII with high density electroencephalography. Results: It is just ended the pilot phase with a sample of 15 participants. We have set up the experimental protocol that will be used during the next validation phase. Moreover, we have studied the optimal extraction modality of the numerical scores starting from the physiological measures. Conclusions: The index may be helpful to assess MI abilities, in order to program individualized mental training sessions for athletes and in motor rehabilitation for patients with physical pathology.