Abstract
Chemical stimulation of a site on the skin of the back anterior to the iliosacral joint in high spinal frogs usually elicits a rostral wiping reflex, in which the tip of the hindlimb rubs against the site; stimulation of a site near the anus elicits a caudal wiping reflex in which the heel or side of the foot rubs against the site. The spinal frog also generates (i) a sequence of rostral-caudal wiping reflexes in response to stimulation of a site in the transition zone located between the rostral wiping receptive field (RF) and the caudal RF and (ii) a lateral wiping reflex to stimulation of a site on a side of the body. Rostral, caudal ipsilateral, and caudal contralateral wiping forms can be executed in a variable sequence to stimulation of a site in the transition zone. The map of the RFs of various wiping forms depends on the level of spinal cord transection. At a low level of transection the rostral RF can disappear, whereas the transition zone between the two RFs becomes a pure RF for a caudal wiping form. In rare cases, both intact and high spinal frogs generate an ineffective hybrid wiping reflex to stimulation of a site in the transition zone: the hindlimb then takes a conflict configuration in which the distal joints behave as in a rostral wiping, whereas the proximal joints do as in a caudal wiping. This conflict is solved by the spinal cord: after a time delay, it re-organizes the hindlimb and performs a pure wiping reflex. Thus, the spinal cord has the adaptive ability to correct occasional errors without descending neural inputs from supraspinal structures. Various aspects of the sensorimotor parallel-hierarchical organization of the wiping reflex are discussed.
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Berkinblit, M.B., Feldman, A.G., Fukson, O.I. (1989). Wiping Reflex in the Frog: Movement Patterns, Receptive Fields, and Blends. In: Ewert, JP., Arbib, M.A. (eds) Visuomotor Coordination. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0897-1_20
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0897-1_20
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