Nick Cotta

Kramer

Advanced Sports Med; Period 2

6 September 2016

Title: Reflex Arc Lab

Purpose: To gain a better understanding of what a reflex arc is

Background: Reflexes are very quick and involuntary movements caused by a stimuli. The stimuli
are sent through nerve pathways which are called reflex arcs. Reflex arcs contain five necessary
components ; a receptor, sensory neuron, integration center, motor neuron, and an eector. Also
reflexes are categorized into two categories, autonomic or somatic. Autonomic are automatic
reflexes that you are not consciously making such as the activation of smooth muscle. A somatic
reflex is the stimulation of skeletal muscles by the nervous system. Finally polysynaptic reflexes
contain more than two neurons. It is important to test reflexes to asses the condition of the nervous
system. Having a slow or no reflex at all can indicated an interruption in the nervous system. Testing
reflexes can also help determine exactly where the aected area is in a serious injury.

Hypothesis: when the reflex arc is stimulated there will be a quick involuntary reflex.

Procedure: see attachment

Data:

Analysis:
Reflex Arc Lab: Analysis and Conclusion Information
Analysis: Answer the questions

1. What is a normal reaction for the patellar re9lex?

2. What is a normal response for the achilles re9lex?
3. What is a normal response for the Babinski (plantar) re9lex?
4. Use your text to draw and label a typical re9lex arc, labeling the 5 components:
Fill-in each statement with the correct term from the lab.
5. In infants, the _____ response is normal when testing the Babinski (plantar) re9lex.
6. When testing the Babinski (plantar) re9lex in an adult, extension of the toes may indicate
damage to the _____.
7. In a _____ re9lex, a muscle contracts when the load increases.
8. The center of the patellar re9lex is in the _____.
9.The _____________ conducts nerve impulses along an afferent pathway towards the CNS
10. A ______ conducts a nerve impulse along an efferent pathway from the integration center
to an effector.
11. If the Achilles (calcaneal) tendon is tapped, one would expect the result to be_____.
12. Damage to the ________ produces Babinski's sign

Conclusion: In essay form, answer the following questions:

a.

Did you accomplish the purpose of the lab? Give evidence to support your statement.

b.

Did your data show normal or abnormal reflex responses? Give evidence to support your
answer.

c.

If you were to do further investigating on the topic of Reflex Arc, what would you do?

Conclusion: The purpose of this lab was to gain a better understanding what a reflex arc is.
Through this lab I was able to develop more knowledge about what a reflex arc is what what it
does. Testing our partners reflexes displayed what the reflex arc does which is transmitting a signal
to the central nervous system which then causes a reflex. The majority of the data I collected was
very normal, everyone I tested had reflexes except for one person. On one person their left patellar
reflex was positive but on the right side there was no reflex which was odd. Besides that the data
was very normal and is what I expected. In order to further investigate reflex arcs I believe that it
would be necessary to learn of all the reflexes and how to trigger them. I also believe that it would
be necessary to know what many of the reflexes could explain about injuries or problems that may
occur in the future.