Neural Control and Coordination

Reflex action


  • It is an immediate involuntary action of the part of a body in response to any internal (or) external stimulus, which was disovered by marshall hall.
  • Stimulus is given at a specific point called receptor, which is then travelled in the form of nerve impulse till CNS (Brain/SC) through sensory neuron (or) afferent process.
  • Reflex generated by brain and SC are called cranial and spinal reflex out of which spinal reflexes is faster.
  • From the CNS, the response is carried by motor neurons till the point called effector.
  • Interneurons connect both sensory and motor neuron.
  • The nervous pathway taken by nerve impulses in a reflex action is called reflex arc.
  • Reflexes are of 2 types – (i) Conditional reflex and (ii) Unconditional reflex
  • Unconditional reflex is obtained by birth without any learning (or) training from past experience eg. Breast feeding, Sneezing, blinking eyes, swallowing in newly born babies.
  • Conditional reflexes are acquired after birth through the process of learning and training such as riding a bicycle, typing etc.
  • Conditional reflex was demonstrated by Ivan pavlov through salivation of Dogs experiment.

Watch this video for the topic from 0:10 to 6:44

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