Recent findings suggest that body ownership can activate the motor system in the absence of movement execution. Here, we investigated whether such a process promotes motor recovery in stroke patients. A group of patients with left-hemisphere damage (N = 12) and chronic motor deficits completed an immersive virtual reality training (three sessions of 15 min each week for 11 weeks). Patients sat still and either experienced (first-person perspective) or did not experience (third-person perspective) illusory ownership over the body of a standing virtual avatar. After the training, in which the avatar walked around a virtual environment, only patients who experienced the illusion improved gait and balance. We argue that representing the virtual body as their own allowed patients to access motor functioning and promoted motor recovery. This procedure might be integrated with rehabilitative approaches centered on motor execution. These findings also have an impact on the knowledge of the motor system in general.

最近的研究结果表明，身体所有权可以在没有运动执行的情况下激活运动系统。在这里，我们调查了这样的过程是否会促进中风患者的运动恢复。一组左半球损伤患者（N= 12) 和慢性运动缺陷完成了沉浸式虚拟现实训练（11 周，每周 15 分钟的三节课）。患者坐着不动，或者体验到（第一人称视角）或没有体验到（第三人称视角）对站立虚拟化身身体的幻觉所有权。训练结束后，化身在虚拟环境中走动，只有经历过幻觉的患者才能改善步态和平衡。我们认为，将虚拟身体表示为自己的身体可以让患者获得运动功能并促进运动恢复。该程序可能与以运动执行为中心的康复方法相结合。这些发现也对一般运动系统的知识产生影响。