A Psychological Framework for Neurorehabilitation

The current framework for motor rehabilitation is neurophysiology. This paper argues that this framework is limited and that psychology provides more appropriate methodological and theoretical inputs. The particular framework taken from psychology is one which draws distinctions between system and component functioning. Examples of this distinction are provided from within psychology in the form of three types of experiments, each addressing different levels of the system. The central argument is that psychological systems have a natural tendency to compensate for component limitations. It is only by understanding the nature of these mechanisms, as applied to skill acquisition and transfer, that we will be able to design successful therapeutic regimes.