Motor Control Processes When Learning To Use A Prosthetic Device

Abstract

Prosthetic devices are designed to increase the action possibilities of an amputee. Appropriate actions with upper-extremity prostheses are only possible when these devices can be controlled dexterously. Importantly, the control signals of the neuromotor system necessary to perform a goal-directed action with a prosthesis differ from those control signals used to perform an action with an intact limb. To discuss what it means for the neuromotor system to learn to control an upper limb prosthetic device, the current presentation will start from Bernstein’s (Russian original from 1940, published in English in 1996) insightful treatise on the hierarchical levels for the control of movement. From this overview we aim to make recommendations regarding the issues that research on learning to control a prosthetic device for the upper extremity should focus on.