Observation of Motor Actions as a Tool for Motor Rehabilitation

Experimental studies have demonstrated that observation of motor actions induces activation in the observer of the same areas of the brain activated on physical execution of these actions and that this can induce the same plastic changes in the motor system of the observer as real physical training. This raises the question of whether observation of motor actions could be used to restore lost motor skills and acquire new skills. This review presents behavioral and neurophysiological data on the use of observation of motor actions in healthy people and in clinical conditions for rehabilitation (improvement) of movements. © 2021, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.