Reflex
Girls VS Boys in Reflexes A reflex action is an automatic (involuntary) neuromuscular action elicited by a defined stimulus. Template:Fn A reflex action is mediated via the reflex arc.
Explanation
A reflex action or reflex is a biological control system linking stimulus to response and mediated by a reflex arc. Reflexes can be built-in or learned. It occurs very quickly before thinking. Before the message is sent to the brain, the spinal cord senses the sensory stimulus, and sends a signal (action potential) to an effector organ, (muscle) to create an immediate action to counter the stimulus. For example, a person stepping on a sharp object would initiate the reflex action through the creation of a stimulus, (pain) within specialized sense receptors located in the skin tissue of the foot. The resulting stimulus would be transmitted through afferent, or sensory neurons and processed at the lower end of the spinal cord, part of the central nervous system. This stimulus is processed by an interneuron to create an immediate response to pain by initiating a motor (muscular) response which is acted upon by muscles of the leg, retracting the foot away from the object. This activity would occur as the pain is arriving in the brain which would process a more cognitive evaluation of the situation.
Reaction time
For a reflex, reaction time or latency is the time from the onset of a stimulus until the organism responds.Boys reactions change as they age. Girls reactions change ehrn they become aging in their 30"s
Human reflexes
Reflex actions seen in adult humans include:
- Accommodation reflex
- Achilles reflex
- Anocutaneous reflex
- Biceps stretch reflex
- Brachioradialis reflex
- Corneal reflex (also known as the blink reflex)
- Crossed extensor reflex
- Mammalian diving reflex
- Gag reflex
- Gastroc-Soleus reflex
- Gladipudendal reflexes
- H-reflex
- Patellar reflex (knee-jerk reflex)
- Photic sneeze reflex
- Plantar reflex (Babinski reflex)
- Pupillary reflex
- Quadriceps reflex
- Salivation
- Scratch reflex
- Sneeze
- Tendon reflex
- Triceps stretch reflex
- Vestibulo-ocular reflex
- Withdrawal reflex
Processes such as breathing, digestion and the maintenance of the heartbeat can also be regarded as reflex actions, according to some definitions of the term.
Newborn babies have a number of other reflexes which are not seen in adults, including:
- suckling
- hand-to-mouth reflex
- Moro reflex, also known as the startle reflex
- grasp reflex
- Asymmetrical tonic neck reflex (ATNR)
- Symmetrical tonic neck reflex (STNR)
- Tonic labyrinthine reflex (TLR)
See also
- Automatism
- Automatism (case law)
- Autonomic nervous system
- Reflex hammer
- Toss juggling: Reflexes - (development of higher-order conditioned reflex actions)
- Sensory system
- Spinal nociceptive reflex
- Tonic vibration reflex
- Voluntary action