A Systematic Review of Observational Practice for Adaptation of Reaching Movements

Observational practice is discussed as a substitute for physical practice for motor learning and adaptation. We systematically reviewed the literature on observational practice in reaching and aiming tasks. Our objectives were to identify (i) performance differences between observational and physical practice; (ii) factors that contribute to adaptation following observational practice; and (iii) the neural correlates of observational practice. We found 18 studies, all investigated adaptation of reaching in visuomotor rotations or force-field perturbations. Results of the studies showed that observational practice led to adaptation in both, visuomotor rotation and force-field paradigms (d = -2.16 as compared to no practice). However, direct effects were considerably smaller as compared to physical practice (d = 4.38) and aftereffects were absent, suggesting that observational practice informed inverse, but not forward modes. Contrarily, neurophysiological evidence in this review showed that observational and physical practice involved similar brain regions.