title: People post-stroke perceive movement fluency in virtual reality.
abstract: We investigated the visual perception of biological movement by people post-stroke, using minimal kinematic displays. A group of twenty patients and a group of twelve age-matched healthy controls were asked to judge movement fluency. The movements to judge were either displayed as an end-point dot or as a stick-figure of the arm and trunk. It was found that the perception of movement fluency was preserved post-stroke, however, with an increase in the variability of judgment. Moreover, the end-point dot representation ameliorated what was perceived and judged, presumably by directing attention to the important kinematic cues: smoothness and directness of the trajectory. We conclude that, despite perception of actions is influenced by the ability of the observer to execute the observed movement, hemiparesis has a mild effect on the perception of biological movement. Yet, a valuable virtual learning environment for upper-limb rehabilitation should be implemented to provide the observer with neither too much, nor too little information to maximize learning.
authors.affiliation: Movement to Health Laboratory, Montpellier-1 University, EuroMov, 700 Avenue du Pic Saint Loup, 34090 Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Liesjet
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: van Dokkum
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mottet
authors.forename: Huei-Yune
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Bonnin-Koang
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Metrot
authors.forename: Agnès
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Roby-Brami
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hauret
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Laffont
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001072:Apraxias / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D001132:Arm / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020244:Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D010291:Paresis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D014584:User-Computer Interface