Abstract
The stretch reflex in which the stretched muscle pulls back so as to resist a disturbing force is such a widespread response in the animal kingdom that it might be thought to be worked out as an object for study. The neural circuitry responsible for such an apparently simple example of negative feedback might well have been expected to have achieved an optimum configuration early in evolution and remained relatively constant thereafter. At least in higher mammals it might be expected to be invariant. Indeed it is still sometimes taught that this is so, and that all there is to the reflex is excitation of the group Ia afferents from the primary ending of the muscle spindle leading to monosynaptic activation of the motor neurones of the stretched muscle and its close synergists. Unfortunately, things have proved to be a great deal more complex, and this circuit is now widely recognized as providing only a part of the mechanism of the stretch reflex. Debate continues, with no obvious end in sight, as to how much additional neural circuitry is involved and what functional advantages accrue to the body by its introduction (cf. Houk & Rymer, 1981).
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© 1985 W.J.P. Barnes and M.H. Gladden
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Matthews, P.B.C. (1985). Human Long-Latency Stretch Reflexes-A New Role for the Secondary Ending of The Muscle Spindle?. In: Barnes, W.J.P., Gladden, M.H. (eds) Feedback and Motor Control in Invertebrates and Vertebrates. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-7084-0_27
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-7084-0_27
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