Reflex Arc Notes PDF
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These notes discuss reflex arcs, their purpose in preventing injury, and how they facilitate quick responses to stimuli. They explain that messages from sensory neurons sometimes don't reach the brain before a reaction. This rapid response system is critical in complex mechanical tasks like walking and running.
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Reflex Arcs Messages from sensory neurons sometimes will not travel to the brain before action is taken This is because we have reflex arcs that are used for quick responses to stimuli The purpose of a reflex arc is to prevent serious injury Example: you touch a...
Reflex Arcs Messages from sensory neurons sometimes will not travel to the brain before action is taken This is because we have reflex arcs that are used for quick responses to stimuli The purpose of a reflex arc is to prevent serious injury Example: you touch a hot object, you will often move your finger before feeling pain This is because the reflex arc sends the message to the spinal cord interneurons, which redirect the message instantly to the motor neurons Without this reflex arc, we would have to: receive pain signal in brain interpreted response Within this time, a relatively minor burn would become a very serious one It also allows us to perform complex mechanical tasks (balancing) quickly. We can walk, skip, run without consciously executing each part of the motion.
