The training characteristics of severely head-injured patients: a preliminary study.

It is argued that an important aspect of rehabilitation after severe head injury lies in training or retraining victims in skills required for independent living. Despite this, very little is known about the training characteristics of head injured patients. It is shown that in the acquisition of a psychomotor skill severely head injured subjects have very poor starting levels as compared to normal controls. They show impressive learning to the extent that they considerably close the gap between themselves and the controls. They also show appreciable transfer of the learned skill from one version of the task to another. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for further understanding of the training process in head injured subjects in ways that could reflect upon clinical practice in rehabilitation.