  We report electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements in the Gd3+ doped
semiconducting filled skutterudite compound Ce1-xGdxFe4P12 (x = 0.001). As the
temperature T varies from T = 150 K to T = 165 K, the Gd3+ ESR fine and
hyperfine structures coalesce into a broad inhomogeneous single resonance. At T
= 200 K the line narrows and as T increases further, the resonance becomes
homogeneous with a thermal broadening of 1.1(2) Oe/K. These results suggest
that the origin of these features may be associated to a subtle interdependence
of thermally activated mechanisms that combine: i) an increase with T of the
density of activated conduction-carriers across the T-dependent semiconducting
pseudogap; ii) the Gd3+ Korringa relaxation process due to an exchange
interaction, J_{fd}S.s, between the Gd3+ localized magnetic moments and the
thermally activated conduction-carriers and; iii) a relatively weak confining
potential of the rare-earth ions inside the oversized (Fe2P3)4 cage, which
allows the rare-earths to become rattler Einstein oscillators above T = 148 K.
We argue that the rattling of the Gd3+ ions, via a motional narrowing
mechanism, also contributes to the coalescence of the ESR fine and hyperfine
structure.
