Haskins Publications

Number	146
Year	1973
Drawer	3
Entry Date	05/21/1998
Authors	Borden, G. J., Harris, K. S., & Catena, L.
Contact
Publication	Journal of Phonetics, 1, 297-308.
url	http://www.haskins.yale.edu/Reprints/HL0146.pdf
Abstract	Electromyographic (EMG) recordings were made from the lip, tongue, and certain suprahyoid muscles of four normal adult speakers under normal conditions and under conditions of trigeminal nerve-block anesthesia. The mylohyoid muscle and the anterior digastric muscles which are innervated by motor fibers from the blocked nerve were usually depressed or inactive during the nerve-block condition. The assumption that the effects of this traditionally used nerve block are purely sensory seems unfounded. Other muscles are either depressed in activity during the block or more active than normal during the block. The amplitude of EMG recording depends upon depth and symmetry of anesthesia and upon the idiosyncratic reaction of the subject. Changes in muscle activity during the nerve block extend even to those muscles whose sensory and motor innervations cannot be affected by the block. Therefore, the effects observed indicate a more central effect or some compensatory reorganization.
Notes