Temporo-Parietal Cortex Activation During Motor Imagery in Older Adults: A Case Study of Baduanjin

•Motor imagery training (MIT), as an emerging rehabilitative intervention, can activate neural basis similar to that in actual exercise, so as to promote motor function in older adults.•Understanding the neural mechanisms underlying motor imagery in older adults would support its application in motor rehabilitation and slowing cognitive decline.•The study illustrated that the activation similarity between the motor imagery and motor execution of Baduanjin in the fronto-temporal region provides a basis for the motor imagery training of the large muscle movement. Age-associated cognitive and motor decline is related to central nervous system injury in older adults. Motor imagery training (MIT), as an emerging rehabilitative intervention, can activate neural basis similar to that in actual exercise, so as to promote motor function in older adults. The complex motor skills rely on the functional integration of the cerebral cortex. Understanding the neural mechanisms underlying motor imagery in older adults would support its application in motor rehabilitation and slowing cognitive decline. Based on this, the present study used functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to record the changes in oxygen saturation in older adults (20 participants; mean age, 64.8±4.5 years) during Baduanjin motor execution (ME) and motor imagery (MI). ME significantly activated the left postcentral gyrus, while the oxy-hemoglobin concentration in the right middle temporal gyrus increased significantly during motor imagery. These results indicate that advanced ME activates brain regions related to sensorimotor function, and MI increases the activation of the frontal-parietal cortex related to vision. In older adults, MI overactivated the temporo-parietal region associated with vision, and tend to be activated in the right brain.