Towards formal models of inhibitory mechanisms involved in motor imagery: A commentary on Bach et al. (2022)

A vast body of research suggests that the primary motor cortex is involved in motor imagery. This raises the issue of inhibition: how is it possible for motor imagery not to lead to motor execution? Bach et al. (2022, this issue) suggest that the motor execution threshold may be “upregulated” during motor imagery to prevent execution. Alternatively, it has been proposed that, in parallel to excitatory mechanisms, inhibitory mechanisms may be actively suppressing motor output during motor imagery. These theories are verbal in nature, with well-known limitations. Here, we describe a toy model of the inhibitory mechanisms thought to be at play during motor imagery to start disentangling predictions from competing hypotheses.

大量研究表明，初级运动皮层参与运动意象的形成。这一发现引发了抑制机制的问题：为何运动意象不会导致运动执行？Bach 等人（2022 年，本期）提出，在运动意象过程中，运动执行阈值可能被“上调”，以防止运动执行的发生。或者，有观点认为，在兴奋机制并行的同时，抑制机制可能在主动抑制运动输出。这些理论本质上属于描述性，存在诸多局限性。在此，我们描述了一个关于运动意象过程中所涉及抑制机制的玩具模型，以尝试从相互竞争的假设中梳理出预测。