Abstract
As one determinant of the efficacy of mirror visual feedback (MVF) in neurorehabilitation, the embodiment perception needs to be sustainable and enhanced. This study explored integrating vibrotactile stimulation into MVF to promote the embodiment perception and provide evidence of the potential mechanism of MVF. In the experiment, the participants were instructed to keep their dominant hand still (static side), while open and close their non-dominant hand (active side) and concentrate on the image of the hand movement in the mirror. They were asked to tap the pedal with the foot of the active side once the embodiment perception is generated. A vibrotactile stimulator was attached on the hand of the active side, and three conditions were investigated: no vibration (NV), continuous vibration (CV), and intermittent vibration (IV). The effects were analyzed on both objective data, including latency time (LT) and electroencephalogram (EEG) signals, and subjective data, including embodiment questionnaire (EQ). Results of LT and EQ suggested a stronger subjective sense of embodiment under the condition of CV and IV, comparing with NV. No significant difference was found between CV and IV. EEG analysis showed that in the hemisphere of the static side, the desynchronization of CV and IV around the central-frontal region (C3 and F3) in the alpha band (8–13 Hz) was significantly prominent compared to NV, and in the hemisphere of the active side, the desynchronization of three conditions was similar. The network analysis of EEG data indicated that there was no significant difference in the efficiency of neural communication under the three conditions. These results demonstrated that MVF combined with vibrotactile stimulation could strengthen the embodiment perception with increases in motor cortical activation, which indicated an evidence-based protocol of MVF to facilitate the recovery of patients with stroke.
Highlights
Mirror visual feedback (MVF) is widely used in the field of upper limb and hand rehabilitation as a low laborintensive, affordable, and convenient method (Wu et al, 2013; Samuelkamaleshkumar et al, 2014; Hebert et al, 2016)
Statistical analysis showed that the latency time (LT) of no vibration (NV) was significantly longer than that of continuous vibration (CV) and intermittent vibration (IV) (CV vs. NV, p < 0.01; IV vs. NV, p < 0.01)
At channel C3, which corresponded to the dominant hand, the desynchronization was centered in two frequency bands, the high-alpha and high-beta (22–26 Hz) for the condition of CV and IV
Summary
Mirror visual feedback (MVF) is widely used in the field of upper limb and hand rehabilitation as a low laborintensive, affordable, and convenient method (Wu et al, 2013; Samuelkamaleshkumar et al, 2014; Hebert et al, 2016). Our previous study found that the combination of auditory and visualproprioceptive feedback could facilitate facial embodiment in patients with Bell’s palsy, which was parallel to Radziun’s finding while using auditory cues in rubber hand illusion (Radziun and Ehrsson, 2018; Ding et al, 2020). These above studies indicated a positive correlation between sensory inputs and perception of embodiment, which suggested potential strategies enhancing embodiment
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