What Are Primitive Reflexes?

Babies will bring their hands together intentionally and soon after will try to bat at objects or grasp things

Babies at birth – most are born at 40 week and premature babies more often need a little more time to reach the same level of development as babies born in and after the 40th week. Most are born with just reflexes for survival at first. These would be swallowing, sucking reflexes to help feed. Rooting reflex baby will move its head if the cheek is touched to find a nipple or teat. Grasp reflex babies will grip objects touching their palm. Startle reflex they will often move arms outwards and clench fists is a sound movement or light suddenly startles them. Walking reflex when babies are held upright with their feet on a

| Reflexes –Sucking, Grasping, Drinking, Eating.Lifting head unaided.Latterly, crawling, rolling over and possibly standing or cruising.

The “blink reflex” is a protective reflex in which involuntary blinking occurs as a response to the eyes being touched or exposed to very bright light. The reflex can first be seen in infancy and persists throughout adulthood (“Infant Reflexes”).

- 1-1.5 r. F. - The reactions circular row III (experimenting, using trial and error)

A reflex is defined as an involuntary and stereotyped response to a fixed stimulus (Sherwood, 2007, p. 177). A reflex allows quick responses to things such as pain or other stimulation. In non-classical definitions, reflexes can even be learned if the subject is conditioned that way(Sherwood, 2007, p. 176). The pathway that a reflex takes from input (stimulus) to output (muscle activity) can generally be shown as reflex arcs. Reflex arcs have five elements. The first element is the stimulus, which acts on a receptor. In the second element, a signal from the receptor is sent along the afferent nerve to the integrator, or central nervous system. The signal is then processed here for the third element. Then, the signal is sent down the efferent nerve, the fourth element, to the effector. The effector acts on this signal for the fifth element. Another reason this can be considered a reflex arc is that all responses are in proportion to the strength of the stimulus (Sherwood, 2007, p. 177).

The quick reaction following an intense and unexpected sensory stimulation is known as the startle reflex: a diffuse protective response common to all mammals3. Although the startle reflex has enjoyed a great deal of interest because of the many attentional, affective, and motor processes that affect its manifestation4,5, there is a core research question about its functionality that remains unanswered. This question relates to the functional role of the physiological processes that outlast the overt reflex response itself. As recently pointed out by Blumenthal6, the most generally accepted function of the startle reflex is to interrupt any ongoing process in the brain so that neural resources can be allocated to process the source of the intense

Reflexes are responses that occur when the body receives a certain stimulus. Although there is a specific reflex that could be a sign that a child over the age of two or an adult could have a central nervous system disorder and it's call the Babinski reflex. The Babinski reflex is one of the normal reflexes found in infants. It occurs when the sole of the foot has been firmly stroked. The big toe then moves upward or toward the top surface of the foot and the other toes fan out. It's normal for children up to two years old and could disappear as early as 12 months.

Every day, our body naturally responds to environmental stimuli by one of two mechanisms, a voluntary reaction or an involuntary reflex. The nerves and muscles work together to respond to a change in the body’s environment, both internal and external, with the intent of maintaining a homeostatic state. Common reflexes include slipping and righting oneself, as well as immediately and naturally withdrawing a body part that made contact with a hot object. A reflex typically occurs prior to the brain fully processing the information regarding the stimulus. Conversely, a voluntary action is controllable and learned by experience (G).​ ​The most well­known learned response is Pavlov’s dogs, who were shown to salivate at the ring of a bell because it signaled food was coming.

Watson and Rayner were able to condition the child to react to different stimuli such as different animals, masks, a fur coat and cotton wool. With the dog, the child’s reaction was not violent for the first time, in contrast with the rabbit. At first, the child didn’t cry as the dog came near but when the dog walked away, the child stared at it. The second time, the dog had direct contact with the child, which resulted to the child crying. The first time the rabbit was put in front of the child, he leaned away and started crying. The second time the rabbit was placed in front of him, the same reaction was given, but the child

The infant will by accident engage in some form of behavior and if the child finds it enjoyable the child will repeat it. An example is an infant sucking their thumb. It may not have been intentional the first time, but they may repeat the action because it comforted them. At this stage the child learns how to help console themselves. These types of reactions are called primary circular reactions. This stage is about coordinating feelings and new patterns.

It is not commonly known that the brain is 90% developed by age five. Most people believe that at age five children are just starting to learn. In fact, the brain absorbs more from birth to age five rather than from age five on. Parents and family can do many things to aid in the development of a baby’s brain, ultimately assisting in their learning. The sequence and rate at which the brain develops predicts the optimal times for a baby to learn. Sequence and rate is measured by milestones that a baby may reach by a certain age. Experiences are one thing that helps promote brain development. Our five senses give us these experiences. How in the first few years of life do we develop into the complex people we are today? We will look at how

When this experiment began, Little Albert was 11 months and 3 days old. Watson and Rayner exposed Little Albert to various forms of stimuli—a white rat, a rabbit, toy blocks, a dog, fur coat, etc. Throughout different time frames, they took note of his reaction to each stimuli alone and paired with the striking of a steel bar to produce a loud sound. On the first day, Little Albert reached out to touch the white rat (no fear), however, when they struck the bar, he jumped in fear. This initial activity eliminated Albert’s receptiveness to the rat. For the first few trials, as the white rat and sound were presented simultaneously, his reaction changed from being surprised to completely afraid and crying. Then, when the rat was shown alone, Little Albert had a very negative reaction to it.

Binns , 1965, demonstrated this experimentally . He studied babies less than 5 days old and found clear differences in babies reactions to being suddenly disturbed.

This example demonstrates the quick and simple processes of reflexes that are often elicited by the interaction between the sensory systems and the motor systems. Reflexes are genetically wired over evolutionary time into the spinal cord, peripheral nervous system, and central brainstem. (Redish, 2013)