The Human Hand

Surveying normal hand function in health individuals, this book presents a conceptual framework for analysing what is known about it. It organises human-hand research on a continuum that ranges from activities that are sensory to those with a strong motor component. It is useful for researchers in neuroscience, cognitive science, and gerontology.

“The Human Hand as an Inspiration for Robot Hand Development” presents an edited collection of authoritative contributions in the area of robot hands. The results described in the volume are expected to lead to more robust, dependable, and inexpensive distributed systems such as those endowed with complex and advanced sensing, actuation, computation, and communication capabilities. The twenty-four chapters discuss the field of robotic grasping and manipulation viewed in light of the human hand’s capabilities and push the state-of-the-art in robot hand design and control. Topics discussed include human hand biomechanics, neural control, sensory feedback and perception, and robotic grasp and manipulation. This book will be useful for researchers from diverse areas such as robotics, biomechanics, neuroscience, and anthropologists.

In The Wonder of the Human Hand, surgeons and hand specialists from the world-renowned Curtis National Hand Center describe how the hand is used in work, sports, and music, and trace the human fascination with hands in religion and art. They relate awe-inspiring stories of people throughout history--including major league pitcher Jim Abbott, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Liebe Diamond, and pianist Leon Fleisher--who accomplished great things with one hand, or with impaired or injured hands, and they tell of marvelous surgeries that create fingers where none exist.

"A startling argument . . . provocative . . . absorbing." --The Boston Globe "Ambitious . . . arresting . . . celebrates the importance of hands to our lives today as well as to the history of our species." --The New York Times Book Review The human hand is a miracle of biomechanics, one of the most remarkable adaptations in the history of evolution. The hands of a concert pianist can elicit glorious sound and stir emotion; those of a surgeon can perform the most delicate operations; those of a rock climber allow him to scale a vertical mountain wall. Neurologist Frank R. Wilson makes the striking claim that it is because of the unique structure of the hand and its evolution in cooperation with the brain that Homo sapiens became the most intelligent, preeminent animal on the earth. In this fascinating book, Wilson moves from a discussion of the hand's evolution--and how its intimate communication with the brain affects such areas as neurology, psychology, and linguistics--to provocative new ideas about human creativity and how best to nurture it. Like Oliver Sacks and Stephen Jay Gould, Wilson handles a daunting range of scientific knowledge with a surprising deftness and a profound curiosity about human possibility. Provocative, illuminating, and delightful to read, The Hand encourages us to think in new ways about one of our most taken-for-granted assets. "A mark of the book's excellence [is that] it makes the reader aware of the wonder in trivial, everyday acts, and reveals the complexity behind the simplest manipulation." --The Washington Post

William P. Cooney III, R. A. Berger, and K. N. An Orthopedic Biomechanics Laboratory Department of Orthopedic Surgery Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation Rochester, MN 55905, U. S. A. As surgeons struggle to find new insights into the complex diseases and deformities that involve the wrist and hand, new insights are being provided by applied anatomy, physiology and biomechanics to these important areas. Indeed, a fresh new interaction of disciplines has immersed in which anatomists, bioengineers and surgeons examine together basic functions and principles that can provide a strong foundation for future growth. Clinical interest in the hand and wrist are now at a peak on an international level. Economic implications of disability affecting the hand and wrist are recognized that have international scope crossing oceans, cultures, languages and political philosophies. As with any struggle, a common ground for understanding is essential. NATO conferences such as this symposium on Biomechanics of the Hand and Wrist provides such a basis upon which to build discernment of fundamental postulates. As a start, basic research directed at studies of anatomy, pathology and pathophysiology and mechanical modeling is essential. To take these important steps further forward, funding from government and industry are needed to consider fundamental principles within the material sciences, biomechanical disciplines, applied anatomy and physiology and concepts of engineering modeling that have been applied to other areas of the musculoskeletal system.

The aim of the present publication is to summarize the results of studies of ontogenesis of the skeleton and muscles of the human hand and foot. Our primary interest in studying the muscles arose from observations of variations, in which a new form of the anomalous muscle in the popliteal fossa had been described (Cihak, 1954; Hnevkovsky and Cihak, 1957) and in which changes of muscle forms in the congenitally malformed extremity had also been studied (Brlickova and Cihak, 1956). The desire to clarify muscle variations by means of the onto genesis led to a study of ontogenesis of single muscles. During observation of the embryonic pectoralis major special muscle bundles were primarily observed, which could be homologised with the sphincter colli muscle of lower Mammals. Further observation revealed that this muscle (concordantly with its phylo genetic development) gradually develops in the course of human ontogenesis from a small primordium to its maximal extent and becomes reduced thereafter and finally disappears, still during the embryonic period (Cihak, 1957). This study was decisive for the further development of our theme, since it demonstra tes, how consistently in the development of the locomotor apparatus the rule of recapitulation is asserted and how this can be employed in developmental studies of muscles.

A philosophical examination and celebration of the human hand.

Human Hand Function is a multidisciplinary book that reviews the sensory and motor aspects of normal hand function from both neurophysiological and behavioral perspectives. Lynette Jones and Susan Lederman present hand function as a continuum ranging from activities that are essentially sensory in nature to those that have a strong motor component. They delineate four categories of function along this sensorimotor continuum--tactile sensing, active haptic sensing, prehension, and non-prehensile skilled movements--that they use as a framework for analyzing and synthesizing the results from a broad range of studies that have contributed to our understanding of how the normal human hand functions. The book begins with a historical overview of research on the hand and a discussion of the hand's evolutionary development in terms of anatomical structure. The subsequent chapters review the research in each of the four categories along the continuum, covering topics such as the intensive spatial, temporal, and thermal sensitivity of the hand, the role of hand movements in recognizing common objects, the control of reaching and grasping movements, and the organization of keyboard skills. Jones and Lederman also examine how sensory and motor function develops in the hand from birth to old age, and how the nature of the end effector (e.g., a single finger or the whole hand) that is used to interact with the environment influences the types of information obtained and the tasks performed. The book closes with an assessment of how basic research on the hand has contributed to an array of more applied domains, including communication systems for the blind, haptic interfaces used in teleoperation and virtual-environment applications, tests used to assess hand impairments, and haptic exploration in art. Human Hand Function will be a valuable resource for student and professional researchers in neuroscience, cognitive psychology, engineering, human-technology interaction, and physiology.

Originally published in 1942, this book was very different from anything else written about the psychology of hands. The author had worked amongst apes and monkeys at the zoo, patients in what at the time were called ‘mental hospitals’, and amongst all manner of men, women and children. The results of her research are found here where she looks at how the hands link to the brain and ultimately our personality. A pioneer in this field the author continued her research in this area for a number of years. A fascinating glimpse into early personality psychology.