Table 1.

Summary of action observation treatment studies.

Patology	Number of participants		Sessions
	Experimental group	Control group	Number	Duration (minutes)	Type of action	Control	Training	Re-test (days)	Generalization	Reference
Stroke	33	34	40	15	Upper limbs daily actions	Static images of objects	Imitation	120 − 150	+	Sale et al. (2014)
	28	0	20	40	Daily actions with objects		Imitation	60	+	Franceschini et al. (2010)
	11	10	12	30	Functional walking tasks	Landscape images	Imitation		+	Park et al. (2014a)
	15	15	20	40	Treadmill walking actions	Nature video	Physical + Imitation			Bang et al. (2013)
	9	9 + 9	20	30	Dynamic balance + Gait abilities	Motor imagery + Physical training	Physical + Imitation			Kim and Lee (2013)
	8	8	18	90	Daily life hand and arm actions	Geometric symbols and letters	Imitation	56	+	Ertelt et al. (2007)—fMRI
Parkinson’s disease	8	8	18	40	Wii Fit game avatar actions	Rest + Motor imagery + Imitation			+	Esculier et al. (2014)—TMS
	7	8	NA	NA	Daily actions	Video clips with no motor content	Imitation		+	Buccino et al. (2011)
	10	10	12	60	Walking actions + Gait abilities	Landscape images	Imitation	28	+	Pelosin et al. (2010)
	10 + 10	14 + 8 + 10	1	6	Repetitive finger movements	Acoustic cue + Static hand	Imitation	2		Pelosin et al. (2013)
Cerebral palsy	12	12	15	60	Upper limbs daily actions	Computer games	Imitation	7 − 56 − 168	+	Sgandurra et al. (2013)
	8	7	15		Upper limbs daily actions	Video clips with no motor content	Imitation		+	Buccino et al. (2012)
	8	8	12	30	Upper limbs daily actions	Landscape images	Physical + Imitation	14	+	Kim et al. (2014a)
Orthopedic	30	30	18	24	Whole body daily actions	Video clips with no motor content	Imitation	7 − 14 − 21	+	Bellelli et al. (2010)
	9	9	9	40	Whole body daily actions	Physical training	Imitation		+	Park et al. (2014b)