The effects of the motor imagery error for motor learning of patients with hemiplegia

2009 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20700430
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Rehabilitation science/Welfare engineering
• Research Institution: Sapporo Medical University
• Principal Investigator: GOTO Minako Sapporo Medical University, 保健医療学部, 助教 (00295370)
• Project Period (FY): 2008 – 2009
• Keywords: リハビリテーション / 作業療法 / イメージ / 脳神経疾患

Research Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the gap between the imagined physical ability and real physical ability for motor learning of patients by evaluating the reported imaged physical ability and real physical ability of patients with hemiplegia. Thirty-five patients with right hemiplegia participated in this study. The imagined physical ability was different from the real physical ability in the majority of the patients. The gap between the imagined ability and the real ability (imagery error) was not related to the hemiplegia recovery grade, the motor function, or the number of days since stroke. However, there were significant correlations between the imagery error and the real physical abilities; the lower the level of real physical abilities the patients had, the bigger the imagery errors became. If an imagery error existed, the real physical ability did not improve later in the majority of cases, and if there was no imagery error, the real physical ability did improve later in the majority of cases.