PRODUCTION OF AN ALTERNATING TREMOR AT REST IN MONKEYS

Abstract
An alternating tremor at rest, resembling that of paralysis agitans in man, has been produced in monkeys by lesions lying entirely below the basal ganglia and destroying part of the mesencephalic and pontile tegmentum. Records of electrical activity of the cerebral cortex and electromyograms of tremor showed no correlation. The tremor returned with motor power after unilateral lesions of cortical areas 4 and 6 and was unaffected by interruption of recurrent pallidal connections to the cortex. Reasons are advanced for attributing the tremor to rhythmical activity of the reticular formation released by the lesion.