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The response of generalized motor activation in man

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Abstract

The effect of short acoustic and photic stimuli on the magnitude of the T- and H-reflexes was investigated in man. Two periods of increase in the amplitude and dispersion of the two test reflexes, disappearing during repetition of the stimulation, were found. Its first component differs from the second in the greater change in the T-reflex and the smaller extinction. The pattern of changes after photic and acoustic stimulation was the same but acoustic evoked a stronger response. The changes discovered are a subthreshold manifestation of the generalized response of motor activation evoked by a wide range of stimuli. It is postulated that its first component is determined by interaction between pyramidal impulses and the motor cortex and the second is due to the efferent volley from the primary cortical projection zones through the reticulo-spinal tract.

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Institute of Problems of Information Transmission, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow. Translated from Neirofiziologiya, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 19–25, January–February, 1974.

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Zalkind, M.S., Shlykov, V.Y. The response of generalized motor activation in man. Neurophysiology 6, 13–18 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01064641

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01064641

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