Neurophysiologic Assessment of Motor Imagery Training by Using Virtual Reality for Pediatric Population with Cerebral Palsy

There are several evidences showing that motor disorders in patients with cerebral palsy are associated with problems in motor planning, which, in turn, denote a diminished capability to imagine movements. Motor imagery appears like an effective means in learning and acquiring motor skills since it shares similar neural structures to those ones used in motor execution. In this paper, a paradigm based on a virtual reality game that drives the patient's electroencephalographic signal is presented. This study aims, on the one hand, to analyze the patients' ability of imagining movements and, on the other hand, to involve and motivate them in order to implement this ability. The research work has engaged four children with spastic cerebral palsy (mean age = 13.25, SD = 1.5) with bilateral brain damage. After analyzing their electroencephalographic signal, the results show that these patients are able of using motor imagery in a walking task, as indicated by the presence of ERD (event related desynchronization) in cortical motor areas, regardless their functional impairment and affected body extremities.