action tremor

trembling of a body part that arises when the individual is engaged in directed voluntary activity and that increases as the movement progresses. Action tremors are classified into the following subtypes: Postural tremor occurs when the person maintains a position against gravity, such as holding the arms outstretched; kinetic tremor appears during movement of a body part, such as moving the wrists up and down; intention tremor is the trembling of a body part that arises near the conclusion of a directed, voluntary movement, such as touching a finger to one’s nose; task-specific tremor appears during the performance of highly skilled, goal-oriented tasks such as handwriting; and isometric tremor occurs during a voluntary muscle contraction that is not accompanied by any other movement. Compare resting tremor.

Browse dictionary by letter

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Psychology term of the day

May 9th 2024

hierarchically nested design

any research design that involves several levels of sampling, such that the entities on the lower levels of the design are nested or subsumed within higher order groups. For example, a hierarchically nested design for an educational study might involve students (A), who are nested within classrooms (B), which are nested within schools (C), which are further nested within school districts (D). Several statistical procedures (e.g., analysis of variance, regression analysis, hierarchical linear models) also incorporate a hierarchical aspect. Also called hierarchical design; nested design.