Voluntary and Involuntary Responses
The responses of the nervous system to stimuli may be voluntary or involuntary.
- Voluntary responses are mainly under conscious control, but some voluntary movements, such as walking, require less conscious attention.
- There are two types of involuntary response, autonomic and reflex.
- Autonomic responses regulate the body’s internal environment: hearbeat, intestine movements,...
- Reflexes mainly affect those muscles that are normally under voluntary control: blinking, sneezing,... A reflex is an involuntary response to a stimulus, such as withdrawing your hand from a hot surface before you become aware of the heat. Most reflexes are processed in the spine, although some, such as blinking, are processed in the brain. In a spinal reflex, the stimulus signal travels along a sensory nerve to the spinal cord, and a response signal travels back by means of a motor nerve.
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