Virtual Hand Illusion-Based Motor Imagery Guidance System for Stroke Patients: A Pilot Study

Motor imagery (MI) is widely used as input for brain-computer interface in neurorehabilitation fields; however, stroke patients often experience difficulty performing MI tasks, and the resulting signals can be weak. To enhance the MI signal, a virtual hand illusion (VHI)-based MI guidance system was developed, which has shown efficacy in healthy individuals. However, it is unclear whether body ownership can be transferred to stroke patients and whether this enhances their MI signal. In this study, we validated the VHI-based MI guidance system in two stroke patients with hemiparesis. Electroencephalography (EEG) was used to evaluate cortical activation and compare results with pure MI and conventional action observation (AO)-based MI guidance systems. Our results showed that the VHI-based MI guidance system induced stronger body ownership transfer and enhanced MI compared to the other methods. These findings suggest that the VHI-based MI guidance system is a promising approach to enhancing MI in stroke patients. Thus, it has the potential to contribute to stroke rehabilitation efforts by improving the effectiveness of brain-computer interface-based therapies.