An interesting article published today in Science Daily reports on a study out of Dartmouth College which suggests that motor skills may be acquired by observation. The study measured brain activity for subjects who were physically practicing specific dance moves, as well as subjects who were simply observing.
"'[W]e were surprised by the remarkable similarity in brain activation when our research participants observed dance sequences that were actively or passively experienced,' says Emily Cross, the principal investigator and PhD student at Dartmouth."
Cross suggests that this relation between participatory and observational activity may improve "upon rehabilitation therapies for individuals affected by physical or neurological injury."