Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

This Transcortical Magnetic Stimulation set up will support my general research program which focuses on ""Cold-induced decrement in voluntary and involuntary muscle activity, and influence of the head on thermoregulation and heat transfer."" Based on previous observations and discoveries, the research program for the next cycle looks for mechanisms and functional implications for the effects of cold on voluntary and involuntary (i.e., shivering) muscular exercise. The proposed paired-stimulus magnetic stimulation set up will allow more detailed determinations of central neural influences on muscular work and shivering. Our current single pulse magnetic stimulator allows general conclusions about the effect of a perturbation (such as core or muscular cooling) on the total central control (i.e., increase in excitability, general fatigue etc.). The paired-stimulus magnetic stimulator will allow the identification of specific facilitation and/or inhibitory mechanisms for the decrease in performance of voluntary muscle activity or involuntarily shivering.