Imagery and motor learning: a special issue on the neurocognitive mechanisms of imagery and imagery practice of motor actions

Human beings are able to imagine actions with the aim to change movement coordination and to learn particular movements. Meta-analyses to date have shown that when individuals systematically engage in imagery of a motor action without overt behavior this can improve motor performance and facilitate motor learning. Despite a considerable body of research in neuroscience, psychology, and sport science, however, there is at present no consensus on the neurocognitive mechanisms of imagery, and the mechanisms that lead to learning via imagined action are still being debated. In particular, the differences between imagined and overt action, and respective learning effects, remain to be fully explained. The present collection of manuscripts is a result of compiling both theoretical advances in the field of motor control and motor learning and those in imagery research to better understand imagery and learning. It is structured alongside five position papers from leading experts in the field, each of which is followed by a series of short commentaries written by experts from various disciplines. This collection demonstrates (a) that conceptualizations of imagery are manifold, vary highly and depend on the perspective chosen, (b) that existing approaches to the neurocognitive mechanisms of imagery and imagery practice of motor actions draw on distinct motor control and learning perspectives, (c) that perspectives from the wider fields of motor control and learning stimulate new approaches to explain imagery and imagery practice, (d) and that future research is needed to investigate and compare different perspectives and conceptualizations of the neurocognitive mechanisms of imagery and imagery practice of motor actions.