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• Clinical Article •
Graph-theoretical comparison of brain network topology during motor imagery and motor execution
LIU Fengyu  WANG Yu  WANG Jiangguang  WANG Xingyue  KE Yougang  WU Dong  XIAO Rong  RAO Haibing  ZHENG Wenbin  GUO Yuelin 

DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.07.004.


[Abstract] Objective To compare the topological properties of brain networks during right-hand motor execution and motor imagery in healthy individuals, and to explore the neural mechanisms underlying the two motor conditions.Materials and Methods Forty right-handed healthy volunteers underwent task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging. Whole-brain functional connectivity matrices were constructed using the Schaefer 2018 atlas (17-network parcellation). The left somatomotor network and its subnetworks (A and B) were extracted. Graph-theoretical methods were used to calculate network density, global efficiency, nodal efficiency, clustering coefficient, and betweenness centrality at the module-internal and module-to-whole-brain levels. Paired t-tests were performed, with false discovery rate (FDR) correction applied for multiple comparisons.Results Compared with motor execution, motor imagery showed increased network density, global efficiency, and betweenness centrality among the module-to-whole-brain metrics in the left somatomotor network A (t = 4.272, 4.280, and 8.981; P = 0.004, 0.004, and < 0.001, respectively; FDR-corrected), and decreased nodal efficiency and clustering coefficient (t = -3.867 and -4.107; P = 0.009 and 0.005, respectively; FDR-corrected). In the left somatomotor network B, network density, global efficiency, and betweenness centrality among the module-to-whole-brain metrics were also increased during motor imagery (t = 3.403, 3.217, and 4.543; P = 0.022, 0.029, and 0.003, respectively; FDR-corrected).Conclusions Motor imagery and motor execution showed distinct brain network topological patterns within the left somatomotor network, and the left somatomotor networks A and B responded differently to the two task conditions. This finding may provide imaging evidence for understanding the differences in neural mechanisms between motor imagery and motor execution.
[Keywords] motor imagery；motor execution；graph-theoretical analysis；functional magnetic resonance imaging；brain network topology

LIU Fengyu1   WANG Yu1   WANG Jiangguang1   WANG Xingyue1   KE Yougang1, 2   WU Dong1, 2   XIAO Rong1, 2   RAO Haibing1, 3   ZHENG Wenbin4   GUO Yuelin1, 2*  

1 Shenzhen Clinical College of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Shenzhen 518104, China

2 Department of Radiology, Shenzhen Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shenzhen 518104, China

3 Department of Ultrasonography, Shenzhen Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shenzhen 518104, China

4 Department of Radiology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515000, China

Corresponding author: GUO Y L, E-mail: lamsubmit@126.com

Conflicts of interest   None.

Received  2026-03-09
Accepted  2026-06-09
DOI: 10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.07.004
DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.07.004.

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