BIOMECHANICAL SINGULARITIES OF WIPING REFLEX CYCLE

  • 1 January 1984
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 29  (3) , 483-488
Abstract
Multijoint goal-directed hindlimb movements in response to chemical stimulation delivered to different skin sites on the medial back surface (wiping reflex, WR) were filmed and analyzed in spinal or intact frogs Rana temporaria. Each WR cycle was divisible into 5 phases (flexion, lifting, aiming, wiping and extension) usually separated from each other by postural interruptions. One or several of the phases might spontaneously be reduced or deleted (e.g., the extension phase), although the WR was still effective. Such a reduction was, as a rule, observed in intact frogs while spinal ones usually exhibited the maximum phase sequence. The central spinal generator of the WR may be formed of separate functional blocks each of which specifies a certain interjoint coordination and brings the joints to the central-conditioned equilibrium positions.

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