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A shaggy dog demonstrates a scratch reflex. When she is scratched beneath her front leg, her back leg moves vigorously. The scratch reflex is an automatic response to the activation of sensory neurons located on the surface of the body. [1]
For example, a dog exhibiting the scratch reflex is an example of knismesis. When stimulated in the saddle region, most dogs will exhibit a reflexive rhythmic twitching of their hind legs. This reflex can be brought on by actions such as scratching, brushing, stroking, or even tapping the sensitive area.
Some body language that indicates that a dog wants a belly rub includes vocalization, tail waggling, open (or squinty) eyes, relaxed and open mouth, while their body is wiggly and loose. If the dog kicks their leg or both legs during belly rub, it is completely normal, and the phenomenon itself is called a scratch reflex .
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Dogs have a scratch reflex, meaning that they reflexively scratch an irritated skin region without direction from the brain. A limb (usually their hind leg) is extended to the irritated part of the body; because this is a spinal reflex , a dog will do this even if spinal connection to the brain is severed.
The term receptive field was first used by Sherrington in 1906 to describe the area of skin from which a scratch reflex could be elicited in a dog. [2] In 1938, Hartline started to apply the term to single neurons, this time from the frog retina. [1] This concept of receptive fields can be extended further up the nervous system.
Central pattern generators (CPGs) are self-organizing biological neural circuits [1] [2] that produce rhythmic outputs in the absence of rhythmic input. [3] [4] [5] They are the source of the tightly-coupled patterns of neural activity that drive rhythmic and stereotyped motor behaviors like walking, swimming, breathing, or chewing.
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