Motor imagery and simulation of action in children

This paper presents a review of motor imagery research in children. After a presentation of the main experimental paradigms used to study motor imagery ability, we present a set of results on the emergence and the development of motor imagery in children that clearly reveals that this ability appears around the ages of five to seven and then continues to develop until adolescence. Moreover, it suggests that motor imagery relies on children’s ability to use internal models of movement to control their overt and covert actions. This last suggestion is supported by the various data obtained in children presenting motor disorders due to brain injury, cerebral palsy, and motor coordination disorders.