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REVIEW article

Front. Neurol.
Sec. Neurorehabilitation
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1501871
This article is part of the Research Topic Cognitive Strategies in motor learning and Rehabilitation View all 4 articles

Mental Imagery for Addressing Mechanisms Underlying Motor Impairments in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Provisionally accepted
Amit Abraham Amit Abraham 1*Yael Leitner Yael Leitner 2Arava Ron Baum Maphty Arava Ron Baum Maphty 1,3
  • 1 Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
  • 2 Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel
  • 3 Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) exhibit various degrees of motor and cognitive impairments in fine and gross motor skills. These impairments impact social functioning, while also hindering academic achievement, self-esteem, and participation. Specifically, motor impairments are not fully addressed by current therapies. For example, approximately 50% of children with ADHD exhibit significant motor impairments, as per clinical measures, while the other 50% experience more impairments in motor planning, execution and control than do typically developed (TD) children. This reality suggests ADHD-specific mechanisms underpinning motor impairments. In this paper, we outline ADHD impairments in motor planning, execution and control, and the potential role of two such mechanisms: internal motor representation and timing perception. Next, we suggest mental imagery as an approach for treating ADHD motor impairments, potentially through addressing internal motor representation and timing perception.

    Keywords: ADHD, Cognition, motor impairments, internal motor representation, timing, Mental Imagery, Motor Imagery

    Received: 25 Sep 2024; Accepted: 26 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Abraham, Leitner and Baum Maphty. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Amit Abraham, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.