18 Questions
What is the primary function of muscle?
To convert chemical energy to mechanical work
How are skeletal muscle fibers bound together?
By connective tissue
What carries signals in the form of nerve impulses from the brain or spinal cord to skeletal muscles?
Axons
How are somatic motor nerves stimulated to contract skeletal muscles?
By electrical signals in the form of nerve impulses
What is the term used to describe the combination of a single motor neuron and all the muscle fibers it controls?
Motor unit
How do muscle fibers respond when a somatic motor neuron is activated?
They generate their own electrical signals leading to contraction
What is the term used to describe the detection, amplification, and recording of changes in skin voltage produced by underlying skeletal muscle contraction?
Electromyography
What is responsible for inducing voltage differences in the overlying skin when many muscle fibers conducting simultaneously?
Motor nerve impulses
Which statement about the magnitudes of action potentials of active motor units is true?
They are not all the same
What is the term used to describe the recorded consequence of propagation of motor nerve impulses at neuromuscular junctions and muscle impulses by sarcolemma?
EMG signal
What are the two principal bioelectric activities that contribute to the complex EMG signal?
Muscle depolarization and repolarization
Which term refers to the process of propagation of muscle and nerve impulses that involves both depolarization and repolarization phenomena?
Excitation-contraction coupling
What is the physiological process known as when the brain increases the number of simultaneously active motor units within a muscle to increase its strength of contraction?
Motor unit recruitment
What is responsible for maintaining skeletal muscles in a constant state of slight tension called tonus?
Periodic activation of motor units
Which factor contributes to producing smooth controlled movements such as walking, swimming, or jogging?
Graded contractions
What does the term 'grading' mean in the context of skeletal muscle contractions?
Adjusting strength based on load
Which physiological mechanism controls the strength of muscle contraction by adjusting the number of motor units involved?
Frequency of motor neuron impulses
Why do skeletal muscles exhibit tonus, a constant state of slight tension, even at rest?
To keep the muscles in a state of readiness
Test your knowledge on the primary function of human skeletal muscles, which is to convert chemical energy to mechanical work. Explore the structure of human skeletal muscle fibers and learn how hundreds of individual cells work together through coordinated contractions.
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