Escape reflex

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Escape reflex

Escape reflex, or escape behavior, is any kind of escape response found in an animal when it is presented with an unwanted stimulus.¹ It is a simple reflectory reaction in response to stimuli indicative of danger, that initiates an escape motion of an animal. The escape response has been found to be processed in the telencephalon.²

Not to be confused with Escape response.

Escape reflexes control the seemingly chaotic motion of a cockroach running out from under a foot when one tries to squash it.

Crossed extensor reflex

The crossed extensor reflex is another escape reflex, but it's a type of withdrawal reflex. It is a contralateral reflex that allows for the affected limb to have the flexor muscles contract and the extensor muscles to relax while the unaffected limb has the flexor muscles relax and the extensor muscles to contract. For example, stepping on a piece of glass causes the affected leg to be lifted or withdrawn and the unaffected leg to carry the additional burden of weight and maintain postural support.⁵ In this example, the afferent nerve fibers are stimulated on the right foot. The nerve fibers travel up to the spinal cord where they cross the midline, go to the left side, and synapse on an interneuron. When the afferent nerve fibers synapse on the interneuron, they can either inhibit or excite an alpha motor neuron on the muscles on side contralateral to the stimulus.

Escape reflex arcs

Escape reflex arcs have a high survival value enabling organisms to take rapid action to avoid potential danger or physical damage. The effectiveness of escape reflexes can be lowered when an organism is experiencing high levels of fatigue and or stress.⁶ These factors cause delays or weakness in the reflex, and they can even develop into learned helplessness, which has been found in animals and Drosophila flies.⁷ The reflex can also be habituated as seen in the tail-flip escape reflex of crayfish.⁸ More recent studies have also indicated that, once this crayfish escape response is habituated, it can also be recovered.⁹ A similar long-term habituation of the C-start escape response has also been studied in the larvae of zebrafish.¹⁰

Various animals may have specialized escape reflex arcs.

Examples

Withdrawal reflexes
- Ducking (flexing the neck to protect the head)
- Jumping at loud sounds
- Withdrawal of a body part when it touches something (e.g., excessively hot or cold)
Other
- Lateral giant escape¹¹ and tail-flip reflex¹² in crayfish
- Escape reflex in squid¹³
- Dorsal ramp interneuron (DRI) action in Tritonia mollusks¹⁴¹⁵
- C-start in fish and amphibia¹⁶
- Escape reflex in earthworms¹⁷

References

1"Escape behaviour". APA Dictionary of Psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. n.d. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
2Schwarze S, Bleckmann H, Schluessel V (October 2013). "Avoidance conditioning in bamboo sharks (Chiloscyllium griseum and C. punctatum): behavioral and neuroanatomical aspects". Journal of Comparative Physiology A: Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural & Behavioral Physiology. 199 (10): 843–56. doi:10.1007/s00359-013-0847-1. PMID 23958858. S2CID 18977904.
3Booth, D.; Marie, B.; Domenici, P.; Blagburn, J. M.; Bacon, J. P. (2009-06-03). "Transcriptional Control of Behavior: Engrailed Knock-Out Changes Cockroach Escape Trajectories". Journal of Neuroscience. 29 (22): 7181–7190. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1374-09.2009. ISSN . . .

Crossed extensor reflex

Escape reflex arcs

Examples

See also

References

Recent changes

Rabbit hole

Key concepts

Crossed extensor reflex

Escape reflex arcs

Examples

See also

References