The development of rehabilitation strategy to facilitate cortical plasticity induced by visual feedback with kinesthetic illusion

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25750203
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Rehabilitation science/Welfare engineering
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: NOJIMA IPPEI 名古屋大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (20646286)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: plasticity / performance / TMS

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We found that a rehabilitative intervention by visual feedback with kinesthetic illusion can produce human motor plasticity in the primary motor cortex (M1). Regarding the visual input, it revealed the importance of kinesthetic illusion during this intervention since behavioral improvement occurred only after visual input with kinesthetic illusion, and a significant correlation existed between the performance gain and the degree of illusion. Also, these underlying mechanisms work for stroke patients as well as healthy subjects. A series of these studies suggested that kinesthetic illusion is an essential component of the motor learning and M1 plasticity induced by new rehabilitative approach using visual feedback. The input of visual feedback with kinesthetic illusion might be a promising approach for improving motor function in patients such as strokes.

Free Research Field

Rehabilitation