Suppression of enhanced physiological tremor via stochastic noise: initial observations.

Enhanced physiological tremor is a disabling condition that arises because of unstable interactions between central tremor generators and the biomechanics of the spinal stretch reflex. Previous work has shown that peripheral input may push the tremor-related spinal and cortical systems closer to ant...

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Main Authors: Carlos Trenado, Florian Amtage, Frank Huethe, Jürgen Schulte-Mönting, Ignacio Mendez-Balbuena, Stuart N Baker, Mark Baker, Marie-Claude Hepp-Reymond, Elias Manjarrez, Rumyana Kristeva
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0112782
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author Carlos Trenado
Florian Amtage
Frank Huethe
Jürgen Schulte-Mönting
Ignacio Mendez-Balbuena
Stuart N Baker
Mark Baker
Marie-Claude Hepp-Reymond
Elias Manjarrez
Rumyana Kristeva
author_facet Carlos Trenado
Florian Amtage
Frank Huethe
Jürgen Schulte-Mönting
Ignacio Mendez-Balbuena
Stuart N Baker
Mark Baker
Marie-Claude Hepp-Reymond
Elias Manjarrez
Rumyana Kristeva
author_sort Carlos Trenado
collection DOAJ
description Enhanced physiological tremor is a disabling condition that arises because of unstable interactions between central tremor generators and the biomechanics of the spinal stretch reflex. Previous work has shown that peripheral input may push the tremor-related spinal and cortical systems closer to anti-phase firing, potentially leading to a reduction in tremor through phase cancellation. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether peripherally applied mechanical stochastic noise can attenuate enhanced physiological tremor and improve motor performance. Eight subjects with enhanced physiological tremor performed a visuomotor task requiring the right index finger to compensate a static force generated by a manipulandum to which Gaussian noise (3-35 Hz) was applied. The finger position was displayed on-line on a monitor as a small white dot which the subjects had to maintain in the center of a larger green circle. Electromyogram (EMG) from the active hand muscles and finger position were recorded. Performance was measured by the mean absolute deviation of the white dot from the zero position. Tremor was identified by the acceleration in the frequency range 7-12 Hz. Two different conditions were compared: with and without superimposed noise at optimal amplitude (determined at the beginning of the experiment). The application of optimum noise reduced tremor (accelerometric amplitude and EMG activity) and improved the motor performance (reduced mean absolute deviation from zero). These data provide the first evidence of a significant reduction of enhanced physiological tremor in the human sensorimotor system due to application of external stochastic noise.
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spelling doaj-art-22d2b79080d0407bb8170733fb80eaa02025-08-20T03:46:11ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032014-01-01911e11278210.1371/journal.pone.0112782Suppression of enhanced physiological tremor via stochastic noise: initial observations.Carlos TrenadoFlorian AmtageFrank HuetheJürgen Schulte-MöntingIgnacio Mendez-BalbuenaStuart N BakerMark BakerMarie-Claude Hepp-ReymondElias ManjarrezRumyana KristevaEnhanced physiological tremor is a disabling condition that arises because of unstable interactions between central tremor generators and the biomechanics of the spinal stretch reflex. Previous work has shown that peripheral input may push the tremor-related spinal and cortical systems closer to anti-phase firing, potentially leading to a reduction in tremor through phase cancellation. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether peripherally applied mechanical stochastic noise can attenuate enhanced physiological tremor and improve motor performance. Eight subjects with enhanced physiological tremor performed a visuomotor task requiring the right index finger to compensate a static force generated by a manipulandum to which Gaussian noise (3-35 Hz) was applied. The finger position was displayed on-line on a monitor as a small white dot which the subjects had to maintain in the center of a larger green circle. Electromyogram (EMG) from the active hand muscles and finger position were recorded. Performance was measured by the mean absolute deviation of the white dot from the zero position. Tremor was identified by the acceleration in the frequency range 7-12 Hz. Two different conditions were compared: with and without superimposed noise at optimal amplitude (determined at the beginning of the experiment). The application of optimum noise reduced tremor (accelerometric amplitude and EMG activity) and improved the motor performance (reduced mean absolute deviation from zero). These data provide the first evidence of a significant reduction of enhanced physiological tremor in the human sensorimotor system due to application of external stochastic noise.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0112782
spellingShingle Carlos Trenado
Florian Amtage
Frank Huethe
Jürgen Schulte-Mönting
Ignacio Mendez-Balbuena
Stuart N Baker
Mark Baker
Marie-Claude Hepp-Reymond
Elias Manjarrez
Rumyana Kristeva
Suppression of enhanced physiological tremor via stochastic noise: initial observations.
PLoS ONE
title Suppression of enhanced physiological tremor via stochastic noise: initial observations.
title_full Suppression of enhanced physiological tremor via stochastic noise: initial observations.
title_fullStr Suppression of enhanced physiological tremor via stochastic noise: initial observations.
title_full_unstemmed Suppression of enhanced physiological tremor via stochastic noise: initial observations.
title_short Suppression of enhanced physiological tremor via stochastic noise: initial observations.
title_sort suppression of enhanced physiological tremor via stochastic noise initial observations
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0112782
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