Bassolino Michela, Sandini Giulio, Pozzo Thierry
Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy.
Dev Med Child Neurol. 2015 Apr;57 Suppl 2:42-5. doi: 10.1111/dmcn.12686.
Observing an action performed by another person to learn a new movement is a frequent experience in adult daily life, such as in sports. However, it is an especially common circumstance during the development of motor skills in childhood. Studies on healthy humans indicate that action observation induces a facilitation in the observer's motor system. This effect is supported by an action-perception matching mechanism available both in adults and in children. Because of the simplicity of action observation, it has been proposed to apply this method in clinical contexts. After a brief, non-exhaustive introduction of the essential features underlying action observation in healthy people, we review recent studies reporting beneficial effects of rehabilitative training based on a combination of action perception and execution. We focus on therapeutic interventions for patients with upper-limb motor disabilities such as adults after stroke or children with hemiplegia due to cerebral palsy. Further, we consider data from basic science demonstrating that the facilitation induced by visual perception of the action can be modulated by the combination of multimodal stimuli related to the movement (e.g. visual and acoustic action-related inputs). In line with this, we discuss possible new directions to improve basic knowledge and therapeutic applications of action observation.
观察他人执行的动作以学习新动作，这在成年人的日常生活中很常见，比如在体育运动中。然而，在儿童运动技能发展过程中，这是一种尤为常见的情况。对健康人的研究表明，动作观察会促进观察者的运动系统。这种效应得到了成人和儿童都具备的动作 - 感知匹配机制的支持。由于动作观察的简便性，有人提议将这种方法应用于临床环境。在简要、非详尽地介绍了健康人动作观察背后的基本特征之后，我们回顾了最近的研究，这些研究报告了基于动作感知与执行相结合的康复训练的有益效果。我们重点关注上肢运动障碍患者的治疗干预，比如中风后的成年人或因脑瘫导致偏瘫的儿童。此外，我们考虑来自基础科学的数据，这些数据表明动作的视觉感知所引发的促进作用可通过与运动相关的多模态刺激（如视觉和听觉动作相关输入）的组合来调节。与此一致，我们讨论了改善动作观察基础知识和治疗应用的可能新方向。
