Study of Cerebral Activation During Different Rehabilitation Tasks of Lower Limb in Virtual Mirror Therapy in Healthy Subjects

Assessment of Brain Activation With Different Mirror Therapy Tasks - Contribution of EEG and fNIRS in Healthy Subjects.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the cerebral activation during visual motor simulation in healthy subjects in 3 conditions: observation (OBS), observation and imagination (OBS-IM) and observation and realization (OBS-REAL). The investigators goal is to compare cerebral activation during the three different tasks using EEG and fNIRS.

Mirror therapy is a rehabilitation technique that has been shown to be effective in restoring upper limb motor skills in patients with stroke. However, it comes up against certain constraints of clinical use such as installation difficulties or the obligation of symmetrical bilateral work. These constraints can be limited by the use of so-called 2nd generation virtual mirror therapy technologies. It is therefore likely that these new technologies will improve the feasibility and effectiveness of mirror therapy in rehabilitation.

The brain mechanisms involved in virtual mirror therapy are not yet fully understood. EEG (Electroencephalography) and fNIRS (functional Near Infra Red Spectroscopy) are two functional method that allows to study the cerebral cortex changes during different tasks (like fMRI).

These techniques therefore makes it possible to study brain activation under more ecological conditions than fMRI and are therefore particularly suitable for exploring rehabilitation techniques.

This research aims to study and compare in healthy subjects, using EEG and fNIRS, the brain regions involved in three tasks using a virtual mirror therapy device (IVS4 apparatus ; Dessintey, France) implying lower limb control.

The protocol has 3 conditions :

observation (OBS), observation and imagination (OBS-IM) and observation and realization (OBS-REAL).

The order of the 3 conditions will then be randomized to avoid potential biases linked to the sequence of conditions.

The EEG recording will used the 32 channels ENOBIO apparatus. The fNIRS will used the Brite MKII apparatus

Inclusion Criteria:

• Subjects aged 18 to 75 years
• Sufficient command of the French language to understand the instructions
• No known neurological medical history
• With social security coverage
• Right-handed subjects with a laterality test of Edinburgh QL> 40 (Oldfield 1971)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Minor subjects
• Adults under guardianship
• Adults under guardianship
• Pregnant or breastfeeding women
• Subjects who have objected to participating in the study