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11.1 Bio12u
11.1 Bio12u
Copyright 2012 Nelson Education Ltd. Chapter 11: The Nervous System 11.1-1
7. Reports or presentations will vary. There are 4 main types of reflex in humans: These are the
spinal reflex (knee jerk), the cranial reflex (reading), somatic reflexes (involving contraction of
skeletal muscles) and the autonomic reflexes (involving responses of muscles in organs and
glands). Students should provide a general description of three of these reflexes. For example,
when the tendon just below the knee cap is tapped with a special hammer, the muscle spindle in
the leg muscle above the knee (the quadriceps femoris muscle) is slightly stretched. The
generates an afferent signal that is sent back to the spinal cord and, via interneurons, conducts an
efferent signal back to the same leg muscle, triggering a contraction of the muscle. This causes
the leg to kick up. The knee jerk reflex was discovered by Sir Michael Foster. In his textbook
published in 1877 he described how "striking the tendon below the patella gives rise to a sudden
extension of the leg, known as the knee-jerk". The knee jerk reflex plays an important role in
maintaining posture and balance without much thought or consciousness. We test for the knee
jerk reaction because its responsiveness can be an indicator of health and disease. In a healthy
person, after the tap of the hammer below the knee cap, the leg normally kicks out once and
returns to relaxed position. If this response is absent or reduced, this is commonly referred to as
Westphals sign, which can be an indicator of several disorders including receptor damage,
peripheral nerve disease, brain lesions, and/or interruption of the nerve impulses in the leg. If the
reflex response results in more than one kick of the leg, this may be a sign of a disease in the
cerebellum of the brain.
Copyright 2012 Nelson Education Ltd. Chapter 11: The Nervous System 11.1-2