Electromyography Infographic – The Electrifying World of Muscle Movement

EMG (Electromyography) is a technique that is used to monitor the activity of our muscles. While it can provide a great depth of information about our movements, it can also provide information about how we feel. There are many ways in which to use EMG as a sensitive measure to reveal the emotions and behaviors of respondents – read on in our newly updated EMG infographic to explore how to use it in your work or research!

EMG infographic:
The electrifying world of muscle movement

Electromyography or EMG is a technique of measuring the changes in elecetrical activity produced by muscles. The story they tell though is about much more than strength. Read on, and work your memory muscles

The Muscles:
- 600 + muscles in the human body
- Around 40% of human body weight 
- 3 types of muscles: skeletal, cardiac, smooth

But what makes your muscles move?
Signals are sent from the brain via motor neurons. Electrical inputs from the motor neurons cause the fibers to slide past each other and produce a contraction. 

How electromyography works
Electrodes (usually two of them) are placed on the skin of the respondents, over the muscle you want to study. These electrodes detect electrical activity and send this data to an EMG amplifier. There are many things that can affect the data, including:
- the amount of subcutaneous fat 
- which muscle is recorded
- the impendance between the skin and electrode
- the density of the muscle
-movement of the muscle relative to the electrode

The EMG amplifier records data that is then sent to a computer for analysis.

If you’d like to learn more about how to understand human behavior (with methods such as EMG tests), then download our free guide below and check out our Webinars to learn more about Human behavior research. 

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