PROSTHESIS TRAINING AS A CONTEXT FOR STUDYING OCCUPATIONAL FORMS AND MOTORIC ADAPTATION

Objectives. Occupational therapy authors frequently emphasize the impo rtance of the use of objects in the development of motor skill. This s tudy investigated the use of object-produced visual input in learning control of flexion and extension of an above-elbow training prosthesis . Method. Fifty-two male college students were randomly assigned to tw o training procedures: (a) two 1.5-min periods in which they used a fl ashlight attached to the book of the prosthesis to connect dots on pap er with light, or (b) the same time periods in which they bad the oppo rtunity to practice moving an equally weighted prosthesis, but without the light or dots. To assess motoric adaptation after training under one of the two conditions, each subject traced a continuous line throu gh a maze with a pen attached to the book. Deviations from the line we re measured reliably. Results. Data analysis with a Mann-Whitney test revealed that subjects in the group that trained with added materials traced with significantly more skill than subjects in the other group (one-tailed U=225.5, p = .02). Conclusion. As predicted by occupationa l therapy theory, the object-produced visual input enhanced the learni ng of a motor skill relevant to rehabilitation. Although there is a ne ed for more study across different occupations and populations, clinic ians are urged to consider the possible benefits of the use of objects in the development of motor skills, as opposed to objectless exercise . Prosthetic training provides a useful context for future research ad dressing theoretical issues in motor learning.