六级英语听力训练资料If you’ve ever blinked at a sudden light, jerked your hand away from something hot, or jumped at a loud noise, then you know that these are not actions we consciously plan
Rather, they happen involuntarily
Such sudden, unconscious movements are a kind of simple neural activity known as a reflex
A deliberate action, such as raising a spoon to the mouth, involves consciousness
We decide to raise the spoon, then we do it
Most reflexes, however, do not involve the brain; they are fast, involuntary responses that travel over what is known as a reflex arc
A reflex arc consists of a stimulus, for example extreme heat, which creates an impulse that travels along sensory nerves and neurons to the spinal cord
Once it reaches the spinal cord, the impulse is routed speedily back to th