In <33448795.0 at news.bru.tfi.be> DECORTE Stefaan
<"cmlp at unicall.be"@unicall.be> writes:
>>I would like to know your opinion on the following:
>Can a man who misses the kinestetic basis of his right hand ( after a
>fronto-parietal haemorrhague ) use this hand to work with? He is
unable
>to mimic postures of his left hand with his right hand when his eyes
are
>closed. He needs visual control.
>Thans for your opinion.
Ed Taub, whose career as a laboratory researcher was prematurely ended
by so-called animal-rightists, demonstrated c. 30 years ago that a
monkey with NO hand sensation (kinesthetic or other) could learn to
execute some fairly precise control, even without visual feedback.
As I recall, the tasks were limited to pointing to a precise visual
target (but not seeing his own hand), and squeezing a pressure cuff to
a precise degree of force, at least at the time I visited his lab (in
Brooklyn, at that time). Whether he was attempting more complex tasks
at the time his Maryland lab was broken into, I don't know.
Ed did manage to go onto something else rewarding, however, very much
relevant to your question: human rehabilitation after brain injury...
If youu want to try retraining, think Skinner! Use many more trials
and much more immediate feedback than the usual OT or PT thinks
necessary.
(P.S. the animals I saw were quite healthy and feisty...)
Frank LeFever
New York Neuropsychology Group