Christian Collet

• Full Professor
• Past Director of the LIBM - Member of the MP3 team at Claude Bernard University Lyon 1

During the COVID‐19 pandemic, anatomy educators have demonstrated their ability to respond to face‐to‐face (F2F) teaching restrictions and offer emergency remote teaching and learning (ERTL) approach. Another educational model that was intensified during COVID‐19 was blended learning (BL) which is a combination of F2F and online settings. Studies o...

Introduction Tetraplegia causes extensive sensorimotor deficits affecting activity, participation and quality of life. People with C6-C7 tetraplegia can learn to grasp objects by performing wrist extension movement (ie, tenodesis grasp), and motor imagery (MI) added to rehabilitation significantly improved tenodesis grasp. We hypothesise that this...

Licence STAPS

V̇O2max is recognized as a key measure in exercise physiology and sports medicine. However, only 20–50% of maximal incremental exercise tests (IET) result in a plateau of V̇O2 (V̇O2pl). To our knowledge, no study has yet examined the possible difference in brain activity during an IET, in V̇O2pl and non-plateau athletes with the same V̇O2max and ag...

Human anatomy requires understanding spatial relationships among anatomical structures and is often perceived as difficult to learn by students. To overcome this concern, several digital tools exist with some strengths and limitations among which the lack of interactivity especially for complex functional anatomy learning. In this way, a new intera...

Prism adaptation (PA) is a useful method to investigate short-term sensorimotor plasticity. Following active exposure to prisms, individuals show consistent after-effects, probing that they have adapted to the perturbation. Whether after-effects are transferable to another task or remain specific to the task performed under exposure, represents a c...

Background Motor imagery practice (MIP) and anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (a-tDCS) are innovative methods with independent positive influence on motor sequence learning (MSL) in older adults. Objective The present study investigated the effect of MIP combined with a-tDCS over the primary motor cortex (M1) on the learning of a fing...

Prism Adaptation (PA) is a useful method to study the mechanisms of sensorimotor adaptation. After-effects following adaptation to the prismatic deviation constitute the probe that adaptive mechanisms occurred, and current evidence suggests an involvement of the cerebellum at this level. Whether after-effects are transferable to another task is of...

Motor Imagery (MI) reproduces cognitive operations associated with the actual motor preparation and execution. Postural recordings during MI reflect somatic motor commands targeting peripheral effectors involved in balance control. However, how these relate to the actual motor expertise and may vary along with the MI modality remains debated. In th...

Motor imagery (MI) is usually facilitated when performed in a congruent body position to the imagined movement, as well as after actual execution (AE). A lower-limb amputation (LLA) results in important structural and functional changes in the sensorimotor system, which can alter MI. In this study, we investigated the effects of body position and A...

Whether sensorimotor adaptation can be generalized from one context to other represents a crucial interest in the field of neurological rehabilitation. Nonetheless, the mechanisms underlying transfer to another task rema in un clear. Prism Ad aptation (PA) is a useful method employed both to study short-term plasticity and for rehabilitation. Neuro...

Background There is a general agreement upon the importance of acquiring laparoscopic skills outside the operation room through simulation-based training. However, high-fidelity simulators are cost-prohibitive and elicit a high cognitive load, while low-fidelity simulators lack effective feedback. This paper describes a low-fidelity simulator bridg...

Background The peripheral venous catheter is the most frequently used medical device in hospital care to administer intravenous treatment or to take blood samples by introducing a catheter into a vein. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of motor imagery associated with actual training on the learning of peripheral venous catheter inser...

Background: General agreement exists upon the importance of acquiring laparoscopic skills outside the operation room. During the past two decades, simulation-based training and simulators have been more extensively used in surgeons’ training. Nevertheless learning through simulation-based systems is hindered by several flaws. High-fidelity simulato...

Background The peripheral venous catheter (PVC) is the most frequently used medical device in hospital care to administer intravenous treatment or to take blood samples by introducing a catheter into a vein. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of motor imagery (MI) associated with actual training on the learning of PVC insertion into a...

Abstract Understanding human anatomy requires several mental and motor processes: i) mental imagery: the ability to mentally represent a physical object, a concept or a situation; ii) mental rotation: the ability to mentally turn the image of an object in the three space planes; iii) motor imagery: the ability to imagine a human movement without a...

Action observation (AO) alone or combined with motor imagery (AO + MI) has been shown to engage the motor system. While recent findings support the potential relevance of both techniques to enhance muscle function, this issue has received limited scientific scrutiny. In the present study, we implemented a counterbalanced conditions design where 21...

In the near future, vehicles will gradually gain more autonomous functionalities. Drivers’ activity will be less about driving than about monitoring intelligent systems to which driving action will be delegated. Road safety, therefore, remains dependent on the human factor and we should identify the limits beyond which driver’s functional state (DF...

Mini-invasive surgery—for example, laparoscopy—has challenged surgeons’ skills by extending their usual haptic space and displaying indirect visual feedback through a screen. This may require new mental abilities, including spatial orientation and mental representation. This study aimed to test the effect of cognitive training based on motor imager...

Motor imagery has been central to advances in sport performance and rehabilitation. Neuroscience has provided techniques for measurement which have aided our understanding, conceptualization and theorizing. Challenges remain in the appropriate measurement of motor imagery. Motor imagery continues to provide an impetus for new findings relating to o...

Background: Motor imagery (MI) training is often used to improve physical practice (PP), and functional equivalence between imagined and practiced movements is widely considered essential for positive training outcomes. Objective: We previously showed that a 5-week MI training program improved tenodesis grasp in individuals with C6-C7 quadriplegia....

Motor imagery contributes to enhance the (re)learning of motor skills through remapping of cortical networks. Combining motor imagery with anodal transcranial direct-current stimulation (a-tDCS) over the primary motor cortex has further been shown to promote its beneficial effects on postural control. Whether motor imagery should be performed conco...

The critical importance of the start phase in bicycle motocross (BMX) racing is increasingly acknowledged. Past experiments underlined that the internal lane of the starting gate provides a strong positional advantage. However, how lane position affects start performance and cognitive and somatic state anxiety remains unexplored. We examined the st...

Objective To study the relationship between physiological indices and kinematic indices during braking events of different intensities. Background Based on mental workload theory, driving and other task demands may generate changes in physiological indices, such as the driver’s heart rate and skin conductance. However, no attempts were made to ass...

Motor imagery has been central to adzvances in sport performance and rehabilitation. Neuroscience has provided techniques for measurement which have aided our understanding, conceptualization and theorizing. Challenges remain in the appropriate measurement of motor imagery. Motor imagery continues to provide an impetus for new findings relating to...

Purpose: The aim of this study was to measure physical and functional outcomes during the acute postoperative recovery in patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty. Motor imagery has been shown to decrease pain and promote functional recovery after both neurological and peripheral injuries. Yet, whether motor imagery can be included as an adju...

The efficacy of motor imagery (MI) practice to facilitate muscle stretching remains controversial and the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms unexplored. We evaluated the effects of MI practice during a sit-and-reach task. Healthy participants were randomly assigned to a MI practice (n = 15) or Control (n = 15) group and completed 2 blocks of...

Performing everyday actions requires fine postural control, which is a major focus of functional rehabilitation programs. Among the various range of training methods likely to improve balance and postural stability, motor imagery practice (MIP) yielded promising results. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied over the primary motor...

Introduction There is ample evidence that motor imagery (MI) training – i.e. the mental repetition of movements without corresponding actual execution – contributes to enhance motor performance. Such positive effects are greater when MI is accompanied by anodal tDCS applied over the primary motor cortex (Foerster et al., 2013; Saimpont et al., 2016...

Sport science is a relatively recent domain of research born from the interactions of different disciplines related to sport. According to the European College of sport science ( http://sport-science.org ): "scientific excellence in sport science is based on disciplinary competence embedded in the understanding that its essence lies in its multi- a...

Due to population aging, elderly drivers represent an increasing proportion of car drivers. Yet, how aging alters sensorimotor functions and impacts driving safety remains poorly understood. This paper aimed at assessing to which extent elderly drivers are sensitive to various task loads and how this affects the reaction time (RT) in a driving cont...

There is now compelling evidence that motor imagery (MI) promotes motor learning. While MI has been shown to influence the early stages of the learning process, recent data revealed that sleep also contributes to the consolidation of the memory trace. How such “online” and “offline” processes take place and how they interact to impact the neural un...

There is compelling evidence that motor imagery contributes to improved motor performance, and recent work showed that dynamic motor imagery (dMI) might provide additional benefits by comparison with traditional MI practice. However, the efficacy of motor imagery in different states of physical fatigue remains largely unknown, especially as imagery...

Raw data collected during the experiment. (CSV)

We recorded magnetoencephalographic (MEG), autonomic nervous system (ANS) activities and behavioral data during normal driving conditions (ND) and during driving under time constraint (TCD) while drivers had to respect traffic lights in a simulated driving task. Electrodermal activity and heart rate were the dependent variables from the ANS. Cerebr...

Motor imagery (MI) training and anodal tDCS applied over the primary motor cortex can independently improve hand motor function. The main objective of this double-blind, sham-controlled study, was to examine whether anodal tDCS over the primary motor cortex could enhance the effects of MI training on the learning of a finger tapping sequence. Thirt...

Individuals with cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) that causes tetraplegia are challenged with dramatic sensorimotor deficits. However, certain rehabilitation techniques may significantly enhance their autonomy by restoring reach-to-grasp movements. Among others, evidence of motor imagery (MI) benefits for neurological rehabilitation of upper limb...

Introduction The aim of this literature review is to provide a clear understanding of motor control and kinematic changes during open-chain upper limb (UL) movements after tetraplegia. Method Using data from MEDLINE between 1966 and August 2014, we investigated kinematic UL studies after tetraplegia. Results We included fourteen control case and...

The effect of motor imagery (MI) practice on isometric force development is well-documented. However, whether practicing MI during the rest periods of physical training improves the forthcoming performance remains unexplored. We involved 18 athletes in a counterbalanced designed including three physical training sessions scheduled over five consecu...

Purpose: Grasp recovery after C6-C7-spinal cord injury (SCI) requires learning "tenodesis grasp" whereby active wrist extension elicits passive thumb-to-forefinger and finger-to-palm flexion. Evidence that motor imagery (MI) promotes upper limb function after tetraplegia is growing, but whether MI potentiates grasp recovery in C6-C7-SCI individual...

Although a number of upper limb kinematic studies have been conducted, no review actually addresses the key-features of open-chain upper limb movements after cervical spinal cord injury (SCI). The aim of this literature review is to provide a clear understanding of motor control and kinematic changes during open-chain upper limb reaching, reach-to-...

Action observation is a predominant element of the perceptive register of humans and most animals, and substantially contributes to the development of motor abilities. Seeing another person moving activates the mirror neurons network, known as the neural basis of action understanding. In this review, we first discuss the central and behavioral resp...

Three-dimensional (3D) digital animations were used to teach the human musculoskeletal system to first year kinesiology students. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of this method by comparing two groups from two different academic years during two of their official required anatomy examinations (trunk and upper limb assessme...

Motor imagery (MI - i.e., the mental representation of an action without physically executing it) stimulates brain motor networks and promotes motor learning after spinal cord injury (SCI). An interesting issue is whether the brain networks controlling MI are being reorganized with reference to spared motor functions. In this pilot study, we tested...

Previous studies provided evidence of a relationship between mental rotation (MR) and motor processes in children and adults. There is no direct evidence, however, that MR ability is a reliable predictor of success for motor performance. After completion of an MR test, the motor performance of 7- to 8-year-old and 11- to 12-year-old children was me...

Targeting cortical neuroplasticity through rehabilitation-based practice is believed to enhance functional recovery after spinal cord injury (SCI). While prehensile performance is severely disturbed after C6-C7 SCI, subjects with tetraplegia can learn a compensatory passive prehension using the tenodesis effect. During tenodesis, the active wrist e...

Reduced physiological arousal in response to breath-holding affects internal clock processes, leading swimmers to underestimate the time spent under apnea. We investigated whether reduced physiological arousal during static apnea was likely to affect the temporal organization of motor imagery (MI). Fourteen inter-regional to national breath-holding...

Motor imagery (MI, the mental representation of an action without engaging in its actual execution) is a therapeutically relevant technique to promote motor recovery after neurologic disorders. MI shares common neural and psychological bases with physical practice. Interestingly, both acute and progressive neurologic disorders impact brain motor ne...

Unlabelled: How to assess mental load remains a recurrent question. We aimed to explore whether slight differences in real-world driving task demands could be discriminated by electrodermal response (EDR). A sample of 33 participants was observed under five conditions: controlled braking from 50 to 30 km/h, 80 to 50 km/h, 50 to 0 km/h, 80 to 0 km/...

Purpose: Motor imagery (MI) has been used as a complementary therapeutic tool for motor recovery after central nervous system disease and peripheral injuries. However, it has never been used as a preventive tool. We investigated the use of MI in the rehabilitation of stage II shoulder impingement syndrome. For the first time, MI is used before sur...

Mental imagery is a popular cognitive simulation technique defined as “a symbolic sensory experience that may occur in any sensory mode” (Hardy et al., 1996, p.28). One of its key applications is in mental practice (also known as ‘motor imagery’) or the systematic use of mental imagery to rehearse skills covertly, without executing the movements in...

Motor imagery (MI, the mental representation of an action without engaging in its actual execution) is a therapeutically relevant technique to promote motor recovery after neurologic disorders. MI shares common neural and psychological bases with physical practice. Interestingly, both acute and progressive neurologic disorders impact brain motor ne...

Over the last 20 years, the topics of action observation (AO) and motor imagery (MI) have been largely studied in isolation from each other, despite the early integrative account by Jeannerod (1994, 2001). Recent neuroimaging studies demonstrate enhanced cortical activity when AO and MI are performed concurrently (“AO+MI”), compared to either AO or...

Everyday activities require different levels of mental load depending on both external and internal task demands, and the resulting strain is likely to drastically influence the forthcoming performance. In this study, we aimed to determine how objective and subjective task constraints may respectively impact strain and performance. Thirty participa...

Mental imagery is a popular cognitive simulation technique defined as “a symbolic sensory experience that may occur in any sensory mode” (Hardy et al., 1996, p.28). One of its key applications is in mental practice (also known as ‘motor imagery’) or the systematic use of mental imagery to rehearse skills covertly, without executing the movements in...

It is commonly believed that during mental rotation of body parts, participants tend to imagine their own body part moving toward the stimulus, thus using an egocentric strategy. Several studies have also shown that the mental rotation of hands is affected by the actual hand position, especially if the hand is kept in an awkward position. However,...

Dans les protocoles experimentaux portant sur l’imagerie motrice, la question de l’evaluation effective du travail mental effectue par les participants demeure une question recurrente pour le chercheur. De meme, le praticien doit pouvoir disposer de methodes lui permettant d’evaluer la qualite de l’imagerie motrice, qu’il soit entraineur et l’utili...

The neurophysiological substrates underlying motor imagery are now well established. However, the neural processes of motor inhibition while mentally rehearsing an action are poorly understood. This concern has received limited experimental investigations leading to divergent conclusions. Whether motor command suppression is mediated by specific br...

The purpose of the current article is to provide a comprehensive overview of the literature offering a better understanding of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) correlates in motor imagery (MI) and movement observation. These are two high brain functions involving sensori-motor coupling, mediated by memory systems. How observing or mentally rehear...

Mental imagery, or the ability to simulate in the mind information that is not currently perceived by the senses, has attracted considerable research interest in psychology since the early 1970's. Within the past two decades, research in this field—as in cognitive psychology more generally—has been dominated by neuroscientific methods that typicall...

Background Recent data support the beneficial role of gesturing during mental practice. The present study examined whether coupling motor imagery (MI) with some movement sequences (dynamic imagery condition) impacted motor performance to a greater extent than performing MI while remaining motionless. Methods A group of active high jumpers imagined...

The purpose of the current article is to provide a comprehensive overview of the literature offering a better understanding of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) correlates in motor imagery (MI) and movement observation. These are two high brain functions involving sensori-motor coupling, mediated by memory systems. How observing or mentally rehear...

Editorial Motor imagery: principles, concepts and methods Aymeric Guillot, Christian Collet The aim of this special issue is to provide an overview of research about motor imagery, the mental representation of an action without any overt body movement. Contributions from eminent imagery researchers were gathered to question different theoretical ap...

A large body of research demonstrated that motor imagery (the mental representation of an action without its actual execution) shares common neural substrates with motor planning and motor execution. In this chapter, we review current issues regarding motor imagery use in motor rehabilitation after spinal cord injury, with a special focus on cervic...

While the use of motor imagery (the mental representation of an action without overt execution) during actual training sessions is usually recommended, experimental studies examining the effect of physical fatigue on subsequent motor imagery performance are sparse and yielded divergent findings. Here, we investigated whether physical fatigue occurr...