Online versus cognitive control: A dividing line between physical action and motor imagery.

Abstract

Recent work in our lab has shown that motor imagery is highly sensitive to tasks that interfere with executive resources, whereas physical actions are largely immune. This has been taken as support for the Motor-Cognitive model of motor imagery and in opposition to the theory of Functional Equivalence. Here, we examined another prediction of the Motor-Cognitive model, namely that an opposite pattern of effects would be observed when the information available for online control was reduced, with physical actions being affected but motor imagery being largely resistant. This was tested in four experiments in which participants performed either physical actions or motor imagery, and in a replication in which they performed both. The experiments manipulated the quality of information available during the online control of movement through: (a) comparing movements made with or without visual feedback (Experiments 1 and 1a); (b) comparing movements made using foveal versus peripheral vision (Experiment 2); and (c) comparing physical to mimed actions (Experiment 3). All four experiments found evidence in favor of the Motor-Cognitive model in that manipulations of online control affected physical action much more than they affected motor imagery. These results were, however, inconsistent with a Functional Equivalence view. We discuss these results in the broader context of other theoretical views of motor imagery. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).