The impact of unilateral brain damage on anticipatory force scaling when lifting everyday objects

Introduction: The ability to predict and anticipate the weight of everyday objects promotes smooth and skillful motor actions and affords economical force adaptation. An ongoing question is how unilateral brain damage influences this knowledge and, in particular, if there is a correlation with apraxia. Methods: In the present study 27 subjects with unilateral brain damage (11 right-brain damage RBD, 16 left brain damage LBD) and corresponding control subjects were investigated. Subjects lifted 12 everyday objects (e.g. a tea cup, a cigarette box or a book) with a wide range of weights. Special finger sensors ena…