Abstract:  Individuals are capable of exerting a variety of muscular forces, ranging from highly precision activities, to heavy lifting tasks requiring the production of large muscular forces.  The manner in which these forces are produced is ultimately dependent on our ability to control individual motor neurons and their innervated muscle fibres - the motor unit.  This seminar will discuss the control strategies we use to activate and control motor units to produce a large range of forces.  A variety of examples involving highly skilled musicians, strength-trained athletes, older adults, and several pathologies will be presented.

Resume:  Gary Kamen completed a Ph.D. in Human Movement in 1980.  Since then he has completed postdoctoral training at St. Louis University and has held tenured faculty positions at Indiana University and Boston University.  Dr. Kamen is presently a Professor in the Department of Exercise Science at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, chiefly studying adaptations in motor unit discharge activity.  His studies demonstrating differences in motor unit activity in young and older individuals, the influence of exercise training on motor unit firing rates, and the effect of training on human spinal circuitry are examples of his current research interests.