Functional equivalence revisited: Costs and benefits of priming action with motor imagery and motor preparation.

The functional equivalence (FE) hypothesis suggests motor imagery (MI) is comparable with the planning stages of action. A strong interpretation of this hypothesis suggests MI can prime subsequent actions in a way that should be indistinguishable from motor preparation (MP). Alternatively, MI could involve more richly informative motor plans than MP, producing different effects on the performance of subsequent actions.

Cross-Modal Transfer Following Auditory Task-Switching Training in Old Adults.

Maintaining and coordinating multiple task-sets is difficult and leads to costs, however task-switching training can reduce these deficits. A recent study in young adults demonstrated that this training effect occurs at an amodal processing level. Old age is associated with reduced cognitive plasticity and further increases the performance costs when mixing multiple tasks.