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Questions & Answers

What is a reflex action?

Nervous response in the humans could be voluntary or involuntary.The involuntary responses includes those which are automatic and yakes place unconsciously. These responses are known as reflex action also. They are rapid responses which are initiated right after receiving the stimulus. The spinal cord is responsible for the generation of these responses. These responses tend to prevent the body from alot of harms  and hence help  in survival.

The pathway followed by the reflex action to generate a response is known as a reflex arc.

The sequence followed in the reflex arc is



he most common example taken for a reflex arc is response to when our hand touches something hot. The receptor in the skin detects the stimulus, which causes the sensory neuron to send impulses to the spinal cord. The relay or the intermediate neurons pass the impulses to the motor neuron. The motor neuron sends impulses to the effector, which will be the hand muscles in this example. A response is produced, which will be the moving of the hand away from the heat.

This whole response is generated within microseconds, which shows the efficiency of the response and its role in the human coordination


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