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Final Program


Final Congress Guide

Clinical Sciences/Health Conditions

300 Section - Distinct Cortical Responses in Mirror versus Passive Robot-Assisted Training: An fNIRS Study in Stroke Patients and Healthy Controls

Wednesday, May 20, 2026
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM PT

    Presenting Author/Autor expositor(s)

  • CL

    Changhao Le, MS

    physical therapist
    the first affiliated hospital of university ofsouth china
    Hengyang City, Hunan, China (People's Republic)

    • Co-Author/Coautor(s)

  • HL

    Huamin Li, MS

    Physician
    the First Affiliated Hospital of University of South China
    Hengyang, Hunan, China (People's Republic)

  • JF

    Jia Fu, MS

    physical therapist
    the First Affiliated Hospital of University of South China
    Heng Yang, Hunan, China (People's Republic)

  • XW

    Xing Wen, MS

    postgraduate
    University Of South China
    hengyang, Hunan, China (People's Republic)

  • HT

    Huali Tang, MS

    None
    Department of Rehabilitation ，Rehabilitation Medicine Center ，Rehabilitation Laboratory， the First Affiliated Hospital ，Hengyang Medical School， University of South China
    Hengyang, Hunan, China (People's Republic)

  • JZ

    Jun Zhou, PhD

    head of department
    Rehabilitation department
    Hengyang City, Hunan, China (People's Republic)

    • Corresponding Author/Autor a quien dirigir la corr(s)

  • MQ

    Mengjian Qu, MS

    Chief therapist
    Rehabilitation department
    Hengyang City, Hunan, China (People's Republic)

Objectives : Robot-assisted training (RAT) is a promising therapy for post-stroke upper limb recovery. Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), this study compared brain activation during a mirror-therapy mode (MTM, bilateral) and a passive-movement mode (PMM, unilateral) in subacute stroke patients and healthy controls. We aimed to identify distinct neuroplastic patterns and explore functional lateralization associated with each training mode.

Design: Forty-six right-handed participants (23 unilateral stroke patients, 23 matched healthy controls), subdivided into 13 left- and 10 right-hemisphere lesion pairs, were recruited. fNIRS recorded oxyhemoglobin (HbO) changes from the primary motor cortex (M1), primary somatosensory cortex (S1), supplementary motor area (SMA), premotor cortex (PMC), and prefrontal cortex (PFC) during both MTM and PMM tasks.

Results: Among all participants, MTM induced significantly higher activation levels than PMM across all bilateral brain regions (all p < 0.01). Furthermore, under PMM, both the M1 and SMA regions showed a trend towards right-hemisphere lateralization in the left-lesion subgroup, whereas a left-lateralized trend was observed in the right-lesion subgroup. The PMC exhibited right-dominance in both subgroups. The S1 cortex (noted as PSC in the original text) showed a right-lateralized trend in patients, while the opposite trend was observed in the healthy control group. Under MTM, only the PMC was significantly right-lateralized in left-lesion patients, whereas their healthy counterparts showed the same trend in the PFC and S1. Right-lesion patients exhibited significant left-lateralization in the S1, while their controls showed an opposite trend in the PFC and M1.

Conclusion: MTM's superior bilateral activation likely stems from engaging the action observation network and anticipatory motor simulation, indicating robust multi-regional cortical recruitment. While PMM lateralization points to contralateral compensation, MTM's distinct patterns suggest the involvement of higher-order neural processes, such as spatial attention and interhemispheric modulation.