## 4 Discussion
Together, these results demonstrate that assistive actuation consistently modifies sensor-feature space, yet the magnitude and direction of those changes are highly participant-specific. As we aim to get more patients enrolled in the NeuroSuitUp and HEROES studies, we will attempt to investigate the effect of the patients' measured neuropsychological properties on the performance during robotic use and on the neural rehabilitation process. A total of 15 SCI patients and 35 stroke patients are expected to be recruited by the end of the clinical trials, when the development of the final versions of robotic devices is concluded, allowing for meaningful statistical investigations. In this evaluation study, both the SCI and stroke patients demonstrated no apathy, anxiety, depression, or low-self-esteem traits. SCI patients reported a high degree of capacity for mental imagery with VVIQ scores of 80 (0.5) and KVIQ scores of 50 (0). On the other hand, stroke patients reported a decrease in vividness (55 (9)) and in kinesthetic/visual motor imagery (39 (17)) that was, interestingly, uniform with regard to their affected and unaffected hands. The only measurable comparable clinical difference between the two groups can be explored through spasticity levels. The SCI patients scored lower MAS UE levels (1, 1+, 2) in relation to the stroke patients who exhibited higher UE spasticity (MAS 4, 2, 3). The difference was evident during the SRPAS fitting, where it was notably more difficult to fit the device on the spastic-affected hands of the stroke participants. Spasticity has been traditionally documented to be a maladaptive plastic [65] compensation and an important target of mitigation through rehabilitation [66], but newer evidence does not necessarily correlate it to worse functional outcomes [67; 68]. The relation of spasticity and poor visualization of movement is even less well understood, but the restriction of movement caused by spasticity should be further investigated as potentially harmful to movement visualization and recovery [69]. The groups of patients that participated in our study commented favorably upon their experience and interaction with the robotics [70; 71], both qualitatively and through quantitative scales. Participants experienced very low discomfort levels (most 0 at LED) and reported generally low mental effort (0-10, with only one stroke patient reporting 70 at SMEQ). With regards to their perception of the robotics' characteristics, SCI and stroke participants both reported high Likeability (20 (3) and 17 (6.5), respectively), high perceived intelligence (15 (3.5) and 17 (8), respectively) and maximum perceived safety (15 (0) both groups) at the Godspeed Robotics Questionnaire [72]. They also reported the SRPAS as moderately anthropomorphic (9 (2) and 13 (1.5), respectively), showing moderate animosity (13 (2.5) and (15 (3.5), respectively) and, in general, Godspeed scores comparable to our previous investigations [28; 29]. Spearman rank-order correlations (Figure 26) showed that imagery scales (KVIQ, VVIQ) were strongly and positively associated with EMG features--participants with higher imagery vividness exhibited greater mean EMG activity and higher EMG dominant frequencies--whereas Godspeed scores flipped the sign, correlating negatively with EMG but positively with flex peak amplitude, such that better robot perception accompanied larger peak flexion yet lower sustained muscle activity. However, with this limited number of participants, even \"perfect\" \(\rho\) values are almost certainly driven by this binary grouping rather than a continuous, generalizable sensor-questionnaire relationship.