AI Article Synopsis
- Recent research indicates that feeling ownership over a virtual body can activate the brain's motor system even without actual movement.
- In a study with 12 stroke patients suffering from chronic motor issues, immersive virtual reality training was used where patients either felt ownership over a virtual avatar or not.
- Results showed that only those who felt the illusion of owning the avatar improved their gait and balance, suggesting that this sense of body ownership may aid motor recovery and could enhance rehabilitation methods.
Article Abstract
Recent findings suggest that body ownership can activate the motor system in the absence of movement execution. Here, we investigated whether such a process promotes motor recovery in stroke patients. A group of patients with left-hemisphere damage ( = 12) and chronic motor deficits completed an immersive virtual reality training (three sessions of 15 min each week for 11 weeks). Patients sat still and either experienced (first-person perspective) or did not experience (third-person perspective) illusory ownership over the body of a standing virtual avatar. After the training, in which the avatar walked around a virtual environment, only patients who experienced the illusion improved gait and balance. We argue that representing the virtual body as their own allowed patients to access motor functioning and promoted motor recovery. This procedure might be integrated with rehabilitative approaches centered on motor execution. These findings also have an impact on the knowledge of the motor system in general.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797620975774 | DOI Listing |
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