Motor imagery and motor task execution has been shown to activate similar areas of the sensorimotor area of the cerebral cortex [Beisteiner et al.]. This has been studied using fMRI, PET and EEG. Four right-handed male subjects aged 25-45 participated in this study. The optical response was measured from the sensorimotor area of the cerebral hemisphere contralateral to hand movement. Cerebral blood volume changes, evident from a decrease in the detected light signal, were observed during the voluntary hand movement tasks and also from the imagined hand movement tasks. Not only do the results of this study further validate the theory that real and imagined movements activate similar cortical areas, but it also brings to light a novel approach to brain-computer interface development. Classification of EEG features during motor imagery has been applied to EEG-based brain-computer interfaces [Pfurtscheller et al]. Cerebral blood flow changes due to motor imagery detected using NIRS have potential use in an optical brain-computer interface.