Mental Imagery with Patients with Sensory Deficits

Question

Answer

There has been much research in the area of mental imagery and mental practice with clients who have had a stroke.  Mental imagery is the active process by which an individual reproduces an object, scene or sensation as though they were occurring in physical reality (Jackson et al., 2001).  Mental practice is a training method during which an individual cognitively rehearses a physical skill using motor imagery in the absence of physical movements for the purpose of enhancing motor performance (Jackson et al., 2001).  While I did see that impaired cognition and diminished perception were in the exclusion criteria for the research studies that I went over, I did not see where sensory impairments such as position or tactile sense were excluded.  I am sure with a diagnosis of stroke some of these deficits may have been present in the participants.  You bring up a good point and something that should be further investigated.