3.3 11*22*63 A Space AbsurditySpace Odyssey: Warren Beanstalk turns to dust
11-22-63 A Space Absurdity
Thanks to composer Linda Z at Facebook Group "JFK Assassination Research Bureau" for sharing this. "SBT [Single Bullet Theory] supporters posit one of the reasons JFK's head and body goes "back and to the left" from the head shot is "neuromuscular reaction". Since I have a medical background Steve Rxx asked me if I could support him on it. Frankly, I've never heard of it before except I connection to the assassination (turns out Belin and Ford on the WC [Warren Commission] came up with it as an explanation - apparently finding an expert or experts who were willing to testify it exists). I need proof, so I googled around and found this wonderful explanation from a Canadian neurologist, Dr Robert Zacharko, on alt.assassination.jfk [news group] in response to a inquiry to him about this theory. Brace yourself, Steve. "Neuromuscular reaction" is complete pseudoscience hogwash."
The Backward Head Snap in the Zapruder Film
alt.assassination.jfk
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.assassination.jfk/dGmw_izjH3c
MTGriffith wrote.....
I asked Dr. Robert Zacharko, a neuroscientist at Carleton University in Canada,
about the theory that JFK's backward head snap was caused by a neuromuscular
reaction. This is really the only theory that Warren Commission supporters
have to offer as an explanation for the violent backward movement of President
Kennedy's head in the Zapruder film. I wrote to Dr. Zacharko as follows:
In frames 312-313 of the Zapruder film, we see Kennedy's head knocked forward, but then, suddenly, beginning in frame 314, we see his head and upper body jolted violently backward and to the left as the right frontal area of his skull explodes. One theory says that this violent backward motion was the result of a neuromuscular reaction. This reaction would have had to occur in no more than 56 milliseconds. I have two questions about this theory:
1. Some object to this theory on the basis that the reaction could not have occurred so quickly. They point out that the fastest involuntary reaction known to man is the eye blink, which takes about 40 milliseconds. They argue that this indicates that the backward head snap would have taken longer to occur, since it involved much more mass. One author phrases this objection as follows:
. . . it [the head] is suddenly driven forward between frames 312 and 313. Amazingly, in the very next frame, 314, it is already moving backward, a movement it continues in succeeding frames until the President's shoulders strike the seat cushion at Z321. . . . The extremely small time factor combined with the relatively large mass of the President's head would tend to rule out such an explanation [i.e., the neuromuscular-reaction theory]. The fastest reflex reaction known to science--the startle response--takes place over an interval of 40 to 200 milliseconds. Beginning with an eyeblink in 40 milliseconds, the response wave moves the head forward in 83 milliseconds, and then continues downward reaching the knees in 200 milliseconds. The change in direction we observe [in the head snap] occurs in 56 milliseconds (1/18th/second), and involves not the negligible mass of an eyelid but the considerable mass of a human head moving forward with an acceleration of several g's.
What is your opinion on the speed of the alleged neuromuscular reaction?
2. One author has objected to the neuromuscular-reaction theory on the following basis:
A "massive neuromuscular reaction," according to Messrs. Ford and Belin, occurs when there is "massive damage inflicted to nerve centers of the brain." The nerve centers of the brain are the pons, the medulla, the cerebellum--all located in the rear of the brain. According to the Warren Commission and the HSCA [House Select Committee on Assassinations], the head shot damaged the right cerebral hemisphere of Kennedy's brain--not a nerve coordination center, not capable of causing a "massive neuromuscular reaction." The neuromuscular reaction that supposedly accounts for the backward snap of Kennedy's head when struck by a bullet from behind could happen only if a major coordinating center of the brain is damaged. According to the x-rays and autopsy photos that lone-gunman theorists champion as evidence of a shot from behind, those areas of the brain are intact.
What is your opinion of this objection to the neuromuscular-reaction theory?
Dr. Zacharko responded as follows in an e-mail dated 8 February 1999:
If you ask any neuroscientist what a neuromuscular effect is they will tell you that it refers to some interface of nerve and muscle for example. In some cases a simple reflex response (e.g., knee jerk for example). Can certain reflexes be influenced? Certainly. Do head movements fall into such a category? No. The head movements that you are referring to are following the laws of physics. With all due respect to Belin and Ford I would ask what medical references or more precisely
what research references are being using to document arguments of neuromuscular reactivity. Simply stated there are none. The pons and medulla contain centres for respiration, cardiovascular regulation, visceral reactivity and the like. The cerebellum is also present at this level. Damage to these areas will interrupt respiration and heart rhythm and affect motor coordination. Neural damage per se associated with bullet entry will not cause exaggerated head movement of the type you
see in the Zapruder film. In fact there are no brain sites that will. This neuromuscular reactivity argument is simply nonsense.[Note: One could make the argument, ludicrous as it may sound, that Kennedy actually saw the bullet approaching and jerked his head back reflexively to avoid being hit.]
The second author does not appear to be any more informed than either Belin or Ford. There is no such thing as a major coordinating centre. Those arguments were largely discounted in the 1960's. The brain simply does not act in such a fashion. It is a coordinated system. Actually there is a system which is referred to as the extrapyramidal motor system, which runs from the mesencephalon to the forebrain. It controls voluntary movement. If this system was to discharge, you would effect gross motor output. Such discharge would typically represent the invasion of seizure like activity to motor areas. It would not be coordinated and certainly not of the type evident in the Zapruder film. The bottom line is that the head movements are reactions to the
direction of bullet entry. They are not the product of central nervous system damage. It would almost seem that certain myths are maintained in the absence of documented data. Information from half-sources of documentation appear to blend with legitimate sources of information to provide muddled scenarios.
Sincerely,
Dr Robert M. Zacharko
Life Sciences Research Building
Institute of Neuroscience Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
The neuromuscular-reaction theory is the principal hypothesis advanced by lone-gunman theorists. It is untenable. Their other theory, the jet-effect theory, is ludicrous. Even Larry Sturdivan told the HSCA that the force that would have resulted from the right-frontal explosion would have been minimal (and would have pushed the head leftward, not backward and to the left). In short, lone-gunman theorists have no explanation for the marked backward head snap.
Mike Griffith
Check out my Real Issues Home Page
at
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/MGriffith_2/
