Cognitive Training Improves Disconnected Limbs’ Mental Representation and Peripersonal Space after Spinal Cord Injury

This study investigates how cognitive training, specifically motor imagery (MI), combined with physical rehabilitation affects mental body representations and peripersonal space in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). The study compares a group receiving standard physical rehabilitation alone to a group receiving physical rehabilitation combined with motor imagery training. The findings indicate that adding motor imagery to physical training can lead to short-term improvements in the representation of peripersonal space. Furthermore, improvements in body representation were observed at a follow-up assessment, suggesting a slower recovery process. These results suggest that both body and space representations are adaptable after spinal cord injuries. Integrating cognitive re-training with physical rehabilitation may offer new avenues for improving sensorimotor function restoration in SCI patients.

• 1
  Motor + MI training induced short-term recovery of peripersonal space, but this effect did not persist at the one-month follow-up.
• 2
  Body representation showed a slower neuroplastic recovery, evident at the one-month follow-up, with no significant differences between the Motor and Motor + MI groups.
• 3
  The frequency of spasms in the “Motor + MI” group showed that the PPS representation was more stable, while the frequency of spasms in the “Motor” group shows a detrimental effect