Behavior

action that alters the relationship between an organism and its environment may occur as a result of

external stimulus (e.g., sight of a predator

internal stimulus (e.g., hunger) or, more often, a mixture of the two (e.g., mating behavior)

Distinguish

innate learned

learned behavior

behavior that is more or less permanently altered as a result of the experience of the individual organism (e.g., learning to play baseball well).

innate behavior

determined by the "hard-wiring" of the nervous system. usually inflexible; a given stimulus triggering a given response. No need to be taught; what you do naturally, with no clue of why or where you learned it

Innate Behavior

E.g

A salamander raised away from water until long after its siblings begin swimming successfully will swim every bit as well as they the very first time it is placed in the water. Clearly this rather elaborate response is "built in" in the species and not something that must be acquired by practice.

Examples of innate behavior:

taxes:

response to a stimulus by automatically moving directly toward or away from or at some defined angle to it

reflexes:

a direct connection between stimulus and response, which does not require conscious thought

instincts:

Similar to reflexes being inborn, rather inflexible and valuable at adapting to environment But are involve more complex behavior patterns entire body participates in instinctive behavior, and an elaborate series of actions may be involved

Value of reflex:

serve protective functions, like the eyeblink reflex. act as control systems to maintain homeostasis in some bodily systems.

Reflex

Unconscious motor response to a sensory stimulus

rapid, predictable, involuntary motor responses to stimuli; they are mediated over neural pathways called reflex arcs.

five essential components of a reflex

receptor,

sensory neuron,
intergration center, motor neuron, and effector

in general, what is the importance of reflex testing in a routine physical examination?

it is an important diagnostic tool for assessing the condition of the nervous system. it helps to indicate degeneration or pathology of portions of the nerves, or can help pin point an area of a spinal cord injury.

classifying reflexes

in terms of the systems that receive the stimulus and give the response

viscerovisceral reflexes, for example the decrease in heart rate that follows distention of the carotid sinus; viscerosomatic reflexes, like the abdominal cramping that accompanies rupture of the appendix; somatovisceral reflexes, such as the vasoconstriction that results from cooling the skin; and somatosomatic reflexes, like the knee jerk that follows tapping the patellar tendon.

classified in terms of the number of neurons or synapses between the primary afferent neuron and the motor neuron

monosynaptic reflex:

two-neuron reflex; simplest form

multisynaptic or polysynaptic reflex

multisynaptic: implies that more than one synapse is involved, Polysynaptic: implies that the pathway is of variable length, some parts disynaptic, some trisynaptic, etc.

tendon jerk reflex or tendon tap reflex

in its simplest form involves only 2 neurons, and is therefore sometimes called a 2-neuron reflex.
The two neurons

sensory and

motor neuron

sometimes called the myotatic reflex

Fig. 15-1. The tendon jerk reflex. A circuit diagram of the elements of the tendon jerk reflex: the muscle spinlde, group Ia afferent fiber, alphamotoneuron, and extrafusal muscle fiber. Note that this is a monsynaptic reflex. F and E indicate flexor and extensor muscles. (Schad JP, Ford DH: Basic Neurology. Amsterdam, Elsevier, 1965)

The Stretch Reflex

The Withdrawal Reflex

The Withdrawal Reflex

These are the steps:

The stimulus is detected by receptors in the skin.

These initiate nerve impulses in sensory neurons leading from the receptors to the spinal cord.
The impulses travel into the spinal cord where the sensory nerve terminals synapse with interneurons.

Some of these synapse with motor neurons that travel out from the spinal cord entering mixed nerves that lead to the flexors that withdraw your hand. Others synapse with inhibitory interneurons that suppress any motor output to extensors whose contraction would interfere with the withdrawal reflex.

The Crossed Extensor Reflex

is just a withdrawal reflex on one side with the addition of inhibitory pathways needed to maintain balance and coordination. e.g stepping on a nail with your right foot as you are walking along. This will initiate a withdrawal of your right leg. Since your quadriceps muscles, the extensors, were contracting to place your foot forward, they will now be inhibited and the flexors, the hamstrings will now be excited on your right leg. But in order to maintain your balance and not fall down your left leg, which was flexing, will now be extended to plant your left foot (e.g. crossed extensor). So on the left leg the flexor muscles which were contracting will be inhibited, and the extensor muscles will be excited.

Scratch Reflex

initiated by the itch and tickle sensation involves 2 functions:

position sense
to and fro scratching movement