Chronic stroke survivors underestimate their upper limb motor ability in a simple 2D motor task.
Sebastian Sporn, M Coll, S Bestmann and 1 others
PMID 39354594WHAT IT FOUND
In a simple reaching task, chronic stroke survivors were less confident about hitting targets with the more affected arm even when both arms reached targets equally often.
Low confidence in that arm may not match what they can do.
Key findings
01Confidence before trying was lower for the more affected arm than the less affected arm, although both arms hit the targets at similar rates.
02Fourteen of the twenty participants rated confidence lower for the more affected arm, while six showed no difference.
03Confidence and actual success were related in the less affected arm but not in the more affected arm.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Only 20 participants were tested, all from one rehabilitation programme, so the result may not apply broadly. The task was a simple supported horizontal reaching movement without hand use, so it may not reflect daily upper limb tasks. Visual feedback was removed during the key trials, so the finding applies to confidence when people cannot see whether they hit the target. No intervention was tested, so the study does not show that changing confidence improves arm use. People with neglect, severe aphasia, pain, or other neurological conditions were excluded, so common stroke problems were left out.
Declared interests
The only reported funding was a grant from the Jon Moulton Trust Charity.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read lower confidence as proof that the more affected arm performs worse. Both arms reached the targets at similar rates, so the difference was in expected ability, not measured success.