Reflexes are a type of unlearned behavior characterized by a motor or neural reaction to a specific stimulus in the environment. They are relatively simple, involve the activity of specific body parts and systems, and are mediated by more primitive centers of the central nervous system, such as the spinal cord and the medulla.

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- A simple response to a certain stimulus that is not learned by the organism through experience

Reflexes

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

OpenStax Psychology (2nd ed.) Textbook

- A type of animal used for the purpose of investigating the reflexive response
- These animals have their spinal cord surgically disconnected from their brain

Spinal Animals 

- Reflex variability is based on the neural pathway that they take part in 
- Some reflexes have short pathways that link the dorsal roots (which transmit sensory information) and ventral roots (which possess muscle fibers) 
- Other reflexes have longer pathways, which connect specific regions of the brain with the spinal cord, or various regions of the spinal cord together 

Types of Reflexes 

- A chain of reflexes cannot account for our normal behavior, because they lack an ability to anticipate or plan for a certain response 
- In speech, individuals may mess up a word because they are thinking about a sound they will make later on 
- When reflexes trigger one another, this problem would not occur, because there is no sense of planning, but only reactionary events  

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