Question

Write the significance of reflex action.

Answer 1

Hint:Our nervous system protects us with the sudden stimulus which may harm us to ensure our survival. It is under the control of the spinal cord and the brain has no role to play in it.

Complete answer:
To answer this question we have to first understand about the reflex action. The reflex action is defined as an involuntary response of effectors to the stimulus. We have three types of neurons; sensory, relay, and motor neurons; they work together to give us the reflex action. It is an automatic and fast response to any stimulus that lowers the damage to our body from harmful situations like touching of hot pan. This phenomenon follows a series of nerve pathways that is termed a reflex arc. Let us take an example; when we touch a hot pan accidently, the receptor found in our skin recognizes the stimulus that sends electrical impulses to a relay neuron that is found in the spinal cord of the central nervous system then it connects the sensory neurons to the motor neurons. The motor neuron then transmits the impulse to an effector and this effector produces response. This whole process takes place so frequently that we detach our hand from the hot pan in a blink of a second.

Now, the significance of the reflex action is; the stimulus is detected by the receptors which travel through the sensory nerve to the spinal cord and the sudden response is sent by the Motor Nerve which is shown with the help of Effectors such as muscles or glands pouring their secretions.

Note:When a reflex act has one sensory neuron and one motor neuron it is termed as monosynaptic that means it forms in the presence of a chemical synapse.