Period 2 week 5
On this weeks lecture, the somatic motor system was touched upon.
Looking at the graphs presented on slide 7, it is clear that the higher the force output is, the faster the muscle fatigues. I would be very interested to see how the measurements were conducted and with how large of a scale.
Additionally, an inclusion of rate of force output over time, i.e. power over time, would have been an interesting addition as the curve is much more steeper (rockets down much faster) in the case of power especially when looking at maximal effort tasks.
I found the textbook box describing tremor pretty interesting. I studied transcranial alternating current stimulation in my bachelor’s thesis, which may be used to cancel tremor. Especially the resting tremor in Parkinson’s disease has recieved a lot of examination. The method uses low power alternating current to partially stimulate the neurons, that is, not cause action potentials but rhytmically hypo and hyperpolarize. If the same frequency alternating current as the tremor is used to stimulate the motor cortex, the tremor can be eliminated. However, this requires the stimulation to be in the opposite phase as the tremor and the frequency may be needed to modulate in order for it to match the tremor’s frequency.
Responses