Experience of agency during movement observation causes lateralized cerebral activations

It has long been established that execution and observation of human movement share a common cerebral network. This knowledge is employed for visual-based motor rehabilitation strategies such as mirror therapy or video therapy. The analogy between both therapy approaches, especially the question of eliciting of lateralized cerebral activations, was frequently assumed, but had never been addressed explicitly. For this purpose, 15 healthy right-handed subjects were instructed to observe and perform index finger-thumb opposition sequences under direct or mirrored visual control while being scanned with fMR. Imaging…