ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on different aspects of motor cognition and on the possibility of stimulating the motor system and improving motor performance by acting at central level. It presents studies on healthy subjects, with particular emphasis on athletes and sport science. The chapter discusses a definition of motor resonance, and its role in movement planning and execution. It also presents the motor imagery technique and why it might be considered an "offline operation" of the motor system. The chapter examines the possibility of learning new motor abilities by means of motor resonance, in particular via action observation and motor imagery. It investigates the most recent findings on the application of these techniques in sport science. The chapter analyzes the cognitive strategies, known as psyching-up techniques, and their application in sport domains. Motor resonance is the coupling between action and perception that causes the automatic activation of the perceiver's motor system during action perception.
