Final answer:
The statement is false because muscle force does not increase by merely stimulating the muscle more slowly. Force is influenced by factors like muscle fiber type, length-tension relationship, and motor unit recruitment.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that 'the more slowly a skeletal muscle is stimulated, the greater its exerted force becomes' is false. The force a muscle exerts does not increase simply by slowing down the rate at which the muscle is stimulated. Instead, the force a muscle can exert is affected by various factors, including the types of muscle fibers involved (slow-twitch or fast-twitch), the length-tension relationship, and the recruitment of multiple motor units. The length-tension relationship describes how the number of cross-bridges that can form during contraction affects the force generated. Muscles contract most strongly when muscle fibers are at an optimal length before contraction begins. Stimulating a muscle more slowly doesn't inherently lead to greater force.
In addition, the force of a muscle contraction can increase via the recruitment of more motor units, which is a process regulated by the central nervous system in response to the demand placed upon the muscle. The phenomenon of treppe, or the "staircase effect," also illustrates that a muscle's subsequent contractions may be stronger than the initial ones after a period of rest, but this is not a result of the rate of stimulation. The statement is true. The more slowly a skeletal muscle is stimulated, the greater its exerted force becomes. This is due to a phenomenon called treppe, where muscle contractions become more efficient after a period of dormancy. During treppe, initially, the muscle generates about one-half the force of later contractions, resulting in a graded increase in muscle tension.