Odor increases synchronization of brain activity when watching emotional movies.

Objective: Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have shown that interpersonal synchronization of brain activity can be measured between people sharing similar emotional, narrative, or attentional states. There is evidence that odors can modulate the activity of brain regions involved in memory, emotion and social cognition, suggesting a link between shared olfactory experiences and synchronized brain activity in social contexts.

Method: We used fMRI to investigate the effects of a positively-valenced odor on inter-subject correlation (ISC) of brain activity in healthy volunteers watching movies.

Alterations of tactile and anatomical spatial representations of the hand after stroke.

Stroke often causes long-term motor and somatosensory impairments. Motor planning and tactile perception rely on spatial body representations. However, the link between altered spatial body representations, motor deficit and tactile spatial coding remains unclear.

Bimanual coordinated motor skill learning in patients with a chronic cerebellar stroke.

Cerebellar strokes induce coordination disorders that can affect activities of daily living. Evidence-based neurorehabilitation programs are founded on motor learning principles. The cerebellum is a key neural structure in motor learning.

Post-Stroke Impairments of Manual Dexterity and Finger Proprioception: Their Contribution to Upper Limb Activity Capacity.

Background: Knowing how impaired manual dexterity and finger proprioception affect upper limb activity capacity is important for delineating targeted post-stroke interventions for upper limb recovery.

Objectives: To investigate whether impaired manual dexterity and finger proprioception explain variance in post-stroke activity capacity, and whether they explain more variance than conventional clinical assessments of upper limb sensorimotor impairments.

Methods: Activity capacity and hand sensorimotor impairments were assessed using clinical measures in N = 42 late subacute/chronic hemiparetic stroke patients.

Dexterity in the Acute Phase of Stroke: Impairments and Neural Substrates.

Background: Stroke can impair manual dexterity, leading to loss of independence following incomplete recovery. Enhancing our understanding of dexterity impairment may improve neurorehabilitation.

Objectives: The study aimed to measure dexterity components in acute stroke patients with and without hand motor deficits, compare them to those of healthy controls (HC), and to explore the neural substrates involved in specific components of dexterity.

Efficacy of interactive manual dexterity training after stroke: a pilot single-blinded randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To compare the efficacy of Dextrain Manipulandum™ training of dexterity components such as force control and independent finger movements, to dose-matched conventional therapy (CT) post-stroke.

Methods: A prospective, single-blind, pilot randomized clinical trial was conducted. Chronic-phase post-stroke patients with mild-to-moderate dexterity impairment (Box and Block Test (BBT) > 1) received 12 sessions of Dextrain or CT.

Bimanual motor skill learning with robotics in chronic stroke: comparison between minimally impaired and moderately impaired patients, and healthy individuals.

Background: Most activities of daily life (ADL) require cooperative bimanual movements. A unilateral stroke may severely impair bimanual ADL. How patients with stroke (re)learn to coordinate their upper limbs (ULs) is largely unknown.