Differences in cortical activation between observing one's own gait and the gait of others: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study.

Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, we investigated cortical activation while participants observed their own gait and the gait of others. Further, we compared the vividness of motor imagery induced by observing one's own and the gait of others. Participants were instructed to perform a gait observation task. The task had two conditions: observing video clips of one's own walking and observing video clips of other individuals walking. After observing the videos, the participants were asked to evaluate the vividness of the mental image of the observed gait on a visual analog scale. When observing one's own gait, the right dorsal premotor cortex and the superior parietal lobule were activated, whereas when observing the gait of others, the left inferior parietal lobule was activated. Observing one's own gait induced imagery that was significantly more vivid than that induced when viewing the gait of others. We suggest that observing one's own gait generates a representation of one's own body in the brain and induces more vivid gait imagery.