Origins of low frequency components of physiological tremor

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Physiological tremor (PT) is an involuntary movement that needs to be taken into account within the human motor scheme, especially those needed for highly accurate finger movements. Although the origins of the high frequency oscillations of PT are well documented; the origin of low frequency component is not as well understood. This "unknown" component of PT is of first importance since its amplitude represents more than 90% of PT amplitude. Thus, the current proposal strives to identify the origins of low frequency component of PT using four studies. Specifically, these studies will identify the role of EMG activity, motor unit activity, muscle spindle and reflex arc activity, and sensory modalities on the characteristics of low frequency PT oscillations. These paradigms were chosen based on well-establish literature and preliminary results. Understanding the components of PT will clarify the basic neural mechanisms and mechanical factors involved in the generation of these limb oscillations, thus helping determine the importance of PT within the neural motor scheme. This research will allow us to improve our knowledge of the motor system such that these new discoveries could be incorporated into neural models of motor control. Also, knowing the origin of low frequency oscillations of PT, where the majority of PT amplitude lies, could lead to new and improved strategies to counteract the nuisance of these oscillations during precise movements such as during microsurgical procedures. Our long-term goals is to transfer this new knowledge, for example, for the implementation of better filtering techniques in surgical robots to reduce PT and improve accuracy. Finally, we can use this knowledge to develop simple devices that can differentiate normal from abnormal tremors such as we are currently doing using smart phones.