The main objective of this thesis was to examine the behavioural and functional cerebral reorganization produced by the mental practice of a motor skill in order to promote the use of this training method in neurologic rehabilitation. A first study was conducted to validate a new foot sequence task (FST) that allows precise measurement of the learning of sequential foot movements in normal subjects and patients with motor impairments. The results of a second study, which aimed at determining if motor imagery is essential to the learning of the FST through mental practice, showed that mental practice with motor imagery improved the learning of this task more than physical practice alone. Moreover, it was found that another type of mental practice, verbal rehearsal, can also improve the learning of the FST. However, only the subjects that had used motor imagery during practice remembered the sequence after several months without practice, which suggests that motor imagery contributes to learning but more importantly, that it is essential for the long term retention of motor skills learned with mental practice. A single-case study was then conducted to examine the effect of combined physical and mental practice on the learning of the FST in a patient who had had a stroke 4 months earlier. The results confirm that MP with motor imagery can improve the learning of this task when combined with physical practice and can contribute to the retention of the skill when used alone. Finally, a study using positron emission tomography showed that subjects who practiced the FST with motor imagery improved their performance, and displayed a functional reorganization similar to that observed after physical practice. However, practice with motor imagery seems to produce changes on the systems subserving motor preparation and anticipation rather than execution per se. Overall, the findings of this thesis confirm that MP with motor imagery is efficient at improving motor skill learning, and that this form of training changes the cerebral organization of subjects. The various results also provided new guidelines for future research and the use of mental practice in a neurologic rehabilitation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LAVAL/oai:corpus.ulaval.ca:20.500.11794/46802 |
| Date | 08 April 2021 |
| Creators | Jackson, Philip L. |
| Contributors | Malouin, Francine, Doyon, Julien |
| Source Sets | Université Laval |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thèse de doctorat, COAR1_1::Texte::Thèse::Thèse de doctorat |
| Format | x, 248 feuillets, [2] feuillets de planches, application/pdf |
| Rights | http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 |
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