Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41570005›Full record

ArticleNeuroRehabilitation2026

Mirror Neuron System and Upper-Limb EMG Activity During Reaching Imitation in Stroke Survivors: Comparing Outcomes After Observing Normal vs. Aberrant Movements.

A Sulfikar Ali, Ashokan Arumugam, Mayur Bhat, Hari Prakash Palaniswamy, Selvam Ramachandran, Senthil Kumaran D

Abstract readComparative Study
In one paragraph

Article in NeuroRehabilitation, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

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No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

A Sulfikar AliDepartment of Physiotherapy, Kasturba Medical College Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India.ORCID 0000-0001-5000-7284
Ashokan ArumugamDepartment of Physiotherapy, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah; United Arab Emirates.ORCID 0000-0001-5795-3812
Mayur BhatDepartment of Audiology and Speech Language Pathology, Kasturba Medical College Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India.ORCID 0000-0002-6824-3522
Hari Prakash PalaniswamyDepartment of Speech and Hearing, Manipal College of Health Professions, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India.ORCID 0000-0002-5631-9411
Selvam RamachandranDepartment of Physiotherapy, Manipal College of Health Professions, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India.ORCID 0000-0001-7227-9547
Senthil Kumaran DDepartment of Physiotherapy, Manipal College of Health Professions, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India.ORCID 0000-0001-6491-2584

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

PurposeTo assess how brain cortical activity and upper limb (UL) muscle activity associated with the imitation of a UL reaching task differ following action observation of normal and aberrant movement conditions.Materials and MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, 17 individuals who had unilateral stroke were asked to watch a UL reaching task performed with normal and aberrant movement patterns shown with prerecorded videos and then imitate normal movement patterns. Electroencephalographic mu-rhythm activity, a measure of the mirror neuron system (MNS), and the electromyographic amplitudes of four paretic UL muscles (percentage maximum voluntary contraction) were measured during action observation and imitation (AOI) of normal and aberrant conditions. Freidman's ANOVA was used to compare the outcomes across the conditions.ResultsEEG analysis revealed statistically significant suppression of mu-rhythm (demonstrating better MNS activity) during the AOI of normal movement than during aberrant movement conditions at the C3 (p = 0.001) and C4 (p = 0.003) electrodes. Furthermore, the amplitude of percentage maximum voluntary contraction for the supraspinatus muscle significantly increased (p = 0.027) during imitation of the task following observation of the normal movement condition.ConclusionAOI of normal movements resulted in better MNS activity and increased supraspinatus muscle activity than did the observation of aberrant movements. These findings support the incorporation of therapist-guided AOI training focused on normal movement patterns and the avoidance of exposure to aberrant models as a low-cost, neurophysiology-driven adjunct in stroke rehabilitation protocols.Trial RegistrationClinical Trials Registry-India (CTRI) identifier: CTRI/2018/04/013466.

Indexed as

Imitative BehaviorMirror NeuronsMuscle, SkeletalStrokeUpper ExtremityAdultAgedCross-Sectional StudiesElectroencephalographyElectromyographyFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedMovementStroke Rehabilitationelectromyographymirror neuron activationmovement errormovement observationMu suppressionupper extremity

Identifiers

PMID41570005
PMCPMC12963472

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.