Objective: To explore imitation and its therapeutic potential in Parkinson’s disease (PD) using kinematic analysis of hand movements.

Background: Action observation and imitation have been shown to be beneficial in stroke rehabilitation, and there is some evidence that people with PD may also benefit. However, imitation may be compromised in PD, and previous studies have not compared effects of imitation with other visual cues. In previous work, we found that people with PD were able to imitate hand movement sequences, but did not show an advantage for imitation compared with non-imitative spatial cues. However, concurrent observation and imitation may have been cognitively demanding. The present study directly compared imitation of hand movements with non-imitative visual cueing following prior observation to reduce cognitive demands.

Methods: PD participants on-medication (N = 29; Hoehn & Yahr 1-3) and age matched controls (N = 25) performed hand movement sequences of different speeds and amplitudes following observation of imitative (movement + targets) and non-imitative (targets only) video cues, which were matched for spatial and temporal information. In an online version of the task, participants viewed the stimulus again during imitation, while an offline version required imitation from memory. Movement kinematics were measured using motion tracking technology. We analysed the extent to which participants modulated their movement in response to changes in the speed or amplitude of the stimulus, as well as accuracy relative to the stimulus.

Results: Both groups exhibited greater modulation of timing with imitative than non-imitative cues. This effect was stronger in controls than the PD group in the offline task only. PD participants showed more accurate timing with imitative cues than non-imitative cues in the online but not the offline task, whereas controls showed this imitation advantage in both tasks.

Conclusions: People with PD are capable of imitating human hand movements, and imitation may improve movement timing accuracy. Online imitation cueing may be beneficial for people with PD, as long as the movement to be executed is known in advance. These findings have implications for the use of action observation and imitation in neurorehabilitation.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/imitation-of-hand-movements-in-parkinsons-disease-a-comparison-with-visual-cueing/