LABORATORY EXERCISE 1

Objectives:
1. To investigate the types of human reflexes.
2. To know the function of reflex actions.
3. To examine the sensory system in our body
Introduction:
There are several type of reflexes in human body. We need to investigate the function of
the reflex action that occur in our body to make sure that we more understand about the process
in our body. Eye reflex can be divided into two which are pupillary reflex and accommodation
reflex. The pupillary reflex is the reduction of pupil size in response to light and accommodation
reflex is

the coordinated changes that occur when the eye adapts itself to near vision;

constriction of the pupil, convergence of the eyes, and increased convexity of the lens. Patellar
reflex is included in spinal reflex. Patellar reflex is contraction of the quadriceps and extension of
the leg when the patellar ligament is tapped. While ciliospinal reflex is dilation of the ipsilateral
pupil on painful stimulation of the skin at the side of the neck. Plantar reflex is irritation of the
sole contracts the toes while Babinskis reflex is dorsiflexion of the big toe on stimulation of the
sole, occurring in lesions of the pyramidal tract.
Sensory system have 2 types of sensory receptor which are exteroreceptor and
interoreceptor. Exteroreceptor detect stimuli outside the body while interoreceptor is detect
stimuli

within the body. Sensory receptor

divided into 5 categories

which are

mechanoreceptors,pain receptor, thermoreceptor, chemoreceptor and electromagnetic receptors.

Method :
A- Reflex Functions
1) Eye reflex :
Pupillary reflex
(i)

This step have been done in pertners. The partners pupils in a given intensity of light was

(ii)

observed.
A light was flashed into one eye and the papillary responses was observed. The length of

(iii)

eye and the light source also was identified.

The changes of both eyes were observed whether they change simultaneously or not.

(iv)

Also, the receptor and the reflector in this activity were identified.
The diameter of the pupils in a given light were observed. Without changing either the
light intensity or the focus , a hand is placed over one eye and then the diameter of the
pupils again was observed. The change in uncovered pupil was also observed.

Accomodation Reflex
(i)

The size of partners pupils was observed when the eye are focused on a distant object

(ii)

(more than 20 ft away, the length was identified)

With the unchanged light intensity but the focus shifted to a near object the pupil size
change was observed. The advantage of the changes was identified.

2) Spinal Reflex- Patellar Reflex

(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)

The partner was asked to sit on the laboratory stool with crossed legs.
Gently the patellar tendon was tapped with a reflex mallet and the response was noted.
The responses of the right and left knees were compared.
The Diagram of reflex arc was drawn in laboratory report.

Ciliospinal Reflex

(i)

The skin on one side of the nape of my neck was pinched and the dilation of the pupil of
the eye on the ipsilateral side was observed and noted. The reflex response mediated over
the symphatetic nervous system is the response to a painful stimulus.

Plantar Reflex and Babinskis Reflex

(ii)

The sole of foot near the inner side was scratch or stroke sharply using a blunt probe.

(iii)

The normal adult reflex response is a plantar (downward) flexion of all toes. However, if
the toes fan out with a big toe reflexes dorsally (upward), it is called Babinskis reflex.
The babinskis Reflex is often associated with damage to pyramidal tract fibres. For a
child, Babinskis reflex is normal in its first year because the nerves are still undergoing
myelination at this time.

B- ORGANIZATION AND FUNCTION OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM II-sensory system.

Station # 1: Taste ability.

(i)

The natural flavours, NaCl and a chemical called 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP), in bottles
at the lab desks were smell and taste.

(ii)

Each of the solutions basically was sip and spit out, without nose clips in place. The
Intensity of each was rated on special constructed scales.

(iii)

For smelling, the solutions was sniffed and rated. The observation was noted without any
ot loud voice to avoid disturbing others because it is normal to have different reactions to
these taste by other people.

(iv)

People taste differently on PROP. The ability to taste it depends on the number of taste
buds on the tongue. The more papillae on the tongue, the stronger the sensation from this
chemical.

(v)

The demonstration of fungiform papillae on the peoples tongue is classified into three
classification which are-non taster s[of PROP], medium and super tasters. The differences
among these tongue was observed.

B. ORGANIZATION AND FUNCTION OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM II-sensory system

Station 2: Two Point Discrimination
1. Your eyes was closed and your partner had placed one of the coins (20 sen, 10 sen or 5
sen) on the back of your forearm. The coin was predicted.
2. Your partner was placed the coin in the palm of your hand. The coin was predicted.
3. Your partner gently touches you on the forearm with either one or two pins with your
eyes closed. The pins your partner used was guessed.
4. The same experiment was repeated on the tip of your finger and the palm of your hand.
The observation was recorded.
Station 3: Smell

i) Detection
1. A series of vials of a chemical, alpha-androstenone was sniffed and the intensity of smell
that you perceive was indicated. The coffee beans were smelled in between each
concentration, to be sure to clear your nose.
ii) Identification
1. A series of vials containing difference smells was found and see how many of the smells
you can identified.
2. For your first attempt at identifying the smells, you will let to sniff while your eyes were
closed.
3. For second attempt, a list of the possible smells is known and you sniffed the flavours
again with closed eyes. The observation was recorded

Station 4: Hot and Cold

i) Adaptation:
1. A warm (but not hot) water bath, a cold water bath, and a bath that is at approximately the
same temperature as your skin are prepared for you.
2. One hand is placed in the warm bath, and one in the cold bath. Each hand will adapt
individually to the water temperature, so the baths will not feel either cold or warm. Then
both hands were placed in the skin temperature bath.
3. The adaptation was recorded.

Station 5: Hearing
i) Hearing acuity and tone discrimination:
1. The tuning fork was heard more strongly on one site if the head than on the other was
applying a tuning fork to the middle of the forehead. The observation was recorded.
ii) Directional hearing:

1. The tubes were wiped off with alcohol swabs before and after carrying out this
experiment. One end of the tube was put in one ear, and the other in the other.
2. Your partner was tapped the tube with a pencil or pen, starting at one ear and going
towards the other. The sound appears to be coming first from one direction and then the
other. The observation was recorded.

iii. Directional hearing and selective attention:

1. Two other people of the same sex were needed to have the 2 helper positions themselves
about 3 meters from you and 2 meters from each other. Next, with your eyes closed, your
two helpers spoke the same short sentences to you, one at a time.
2. Noted whether you easily tell which one of your helpers was speaking first. The
observation was recorded.
3. Now, the same arrangement was tried with a doorway separating you from direct line of
hearing from your helpers. The observation was recorded.

Result :
A. REFLEX FUNCTIONS

Exercise

Result
Light

Sample

intensity

Response

(Size

of Size of pupil when

Pupils)

closed one of our

eye

Eye

Puppilary

Reflex

Reflex

Distance

Smaller

Bigger

Smaller

Bigger

Smaller

Bigger

Smaller

Bigger

Smaller

Bigger

Sample

Response

(Size

of

Pupils)

No response at the
beginning
Start to response

30 feet

Accommodat

at 2 feet

No response at the
beginning

ion Reflex

Start to response
at 2 feet

30 feet
3

No response at the
beginning
Start to response

30 feet

at 3 feet

No response at the
beginning
Pupil

30 feet

start

to

become smaller at
3 feet
No response at the

beginning
Pupil
30 feet

start

to

become smaller at
4 feet

Exercise

Result
Sample

Response

Just
movement

little
of

kick out
2

High movement
of kick out

Moderate
movement

Right

of

kick out
4

Too
movement

little
of

kick out
5
Spinal

Patellar

Reflex

Reflex

High movement
of kick out

Sample
1

Response
Little movement
of kick out

High movement
of kick out

Moderate
movement

Left

of kick out
4

Moderate
movement
of kick out

High movement
of kick out

Exercise

Sample

Response

The pupil become smaller

Ciliospinal Reflex

The pupil become smaller

The pupil become smaller

The pupil become bigger

No response

Tick () for the respondents response and describe

Plantar
Reflex
and
Babinski

Plantar Reflex
(

Right

Left

s Reflex
Babinskis

Right

Left

Reflex
(

B. ORGANIZATION AND FUNCTION OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM II- sensory system

EXERCISES
Station 1:

RESULTS
Sample

Response
1

Taste Ability
Sugar

Mild sweet

Mild sweet

Sweet

Sweet

NaCl

Too salty

Too salty

Too salty

Salt

6-n-propylthiouracil

Too bitter

Bitter

Too bitter

Too bitter

(PROP)
Station 2:

Sample

Station 4: Hot and Cold

Palm

RM 0.05

RM 0.10

RM 0.20

Sample

Forearm

Two Point Discrimination

Station 3: Smell

Forearm

Palm

Finger Tip

One pin

Two pins

Three pins

Sample

Response
1

Onion

Flower

Banana Flavor

Strawberry Emulco

Coffee Emulco

Pandan Flavor

Sample

Response
2

1
Hot water

Hand

still Hand

still Hand

still Hand

still

feel

warm feel

warm feel

warm feel

warm

and not give and not give and not give and not give

Cold water

Station 5: Hearing

different

different

different

different

feel

feel

feel

feel

Both

Sample

hand Both

hand Both

hand Both

hand

was

was

was

was

benumbed

benumbed

benumbed

benumbed

Response
1

Hearing acuity and The

tone discrimination

echo The

echo The

echo The

echo

heard more heard more heard more heard more

strong when strong when strong when strong when

Directional hearing

approached

approached

the ear.

the ear.

approached

approached
the ear.

the ear.

The

echo The

echo The

echo The

echo

was

heard was

heard was

heard was

heard

almost same almost same almost same almost same

along

the along

the along

the along

the

pipe.

No pipe.

No pipe.

No pipe.

No

different
hearing
echo

Directional
and

Without

(same sex)

of hearing
echo

different
of hearing
echo.

different
of hearing

of

echo

hearing Easily hear Easily hear Easily hear Easily hear

selective the

voice the

voice the

voice the

voice

and

can and

can and

can and

can

attention:
a)

different

barrier

define who define who define who define who

is speaking is speaking is speaking is speaking

first.

first.

first.

first.

b) With barrier (same Can hear the Can hear the Can hear the Can hear the
sex)

voice

but voice

can identify cannot

who

c)

Without

(different sex)

but voice
cannot

but voice

but

can identify

is identify who identify who who

is

speaking

is speaking is speaking speaking

first.

first.

first.

first.

barrier Easily hear Easily hear Easily hear Easily hear

the

voice the

voice the

voice the

voice

and

can and

can and

cant and

cant

define who define who define who define who

is speaking is speaking is speaking is speaking
first.

first.

first.

first.

DISCUSSION:
A: Reflex Functions
Pupillary Reflex is the reflex that controls the diameter of pupil size which wills
responses to the light intensity that fall on the retina. The pupil most of our sample become
smaller when their retina were given high light intensity. But at this experiment, we were static
on our location. So the distance between the light sources and the pupils were same. The reason
why our pupils become smaller is because the pupils tried to decrease the light intensity which
falls on our retina. Then, when we are closed one of our eye with our hand, our pupils become
bigger again. This is because the light intensity received by our eye is become lower, so it try to
adapt to the situation by increase the size of the pupil. For the accommodation reflex, the pupil
did not responses when the light sources in a distance of 30 feet. But, the pupil started to
responses once the light sources are 3 to 4 feet from the pupils. A near object appears large in the
field of vision, and the eye receives light from wide angles. When moving focus from a distant to
a near object, the eyes converge. The ciliary muscle contracts making the lens more convex and
shortening its focal length. The pupil constricts in order to prevent diverging light rays from

hitting the periphery of the retina and resulting in a blurred image. This is because, once the light
source come nearer to the pupil, the light intensity is increase. So the pupil have to decrease its
diameter to low the amount of light receive by the pupil.
When the patellar tendon is tapped just below the knee, the patellar reflex is initiated
which then will causes the lower leg kicks forward. This process happened via the contraction of
quadriceps. The tap then will initiate the action potential in a specialized structure known. This
specialized structure known as a muscle spindle located within the quadriceps. This action
potential travels to the spinal cord, via a sensory axon which chemically communicates by
releasing glutamate onto a motor nerve. The result of this motor nerve activity is the contraction
of the quadriceps muscle, leading to extension of the lower leg at the knee. The sensory input
from the quadriceps also activates local interneurons that release the inhibitory neurotransmitter
glycine onto motor neurons, blocking the innervations of the antagonistic muscle. The relaxation
of the opposing muscle facilitates extension of the lower leg. Then, all of this will cause the
movement of the leg when tapped.

The ciliospinal reflex consists of dilation of the ipsilateral pupil in response to pain
applied to the neck, face, and upper trunk. If the right side of the neck is subjected to a painful
stimulus, the ipsilateral pupil dilate. This reflex is because the brain tried to decrease the pain
accept by the nerve.

The Babinski response to the plantar reflex is a reflex, named after Joseph Babinski
(1857-1932), a Polish neurologist, which can identify disease of the spinal cord and brain and
also exists as a primitive reflex in infants. In the form of non-pathology, it is called as plantar
reflex, while in the form of pathology; it will be called as the Babinskis reflex. When the feet
were rubbed with a blunt side of instrument from the heel along a curve to the toes, most of us
will responses to the activity except one of our sample. Two of our sample will show the nonpathology form, which is they are responses as the plantar reflex. While, the other two show the
Babinski reflex. Actually, from this activity, three kind of responses can be show. The first one is
flexor, which mean the toes curve inward and the foot everts. This is the response seen in healthy
adults. The second is the indifferent, where no responses shown hen this activity happened. The
last one is the extensor, which is the responses of hallux dorsiflexes and the other toes fan out.
The positive Babinski's sign indicating damage to the central nervous system. he lesion
responsible for the sign expands, so does the area from which the afferent Babinski response may
be elicited. The Babinski response is also normal while asleep and after a long period of walking.

B: Organization and Function of the Nervous System II-sensory system

Every person has different ability to taste and smell something. And this characteristic is
unique to each person. For activity for station 1, we were ask to examine our taste ability. In this
experiment, we have to tried the NaCl, sugar and 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) and determine the
taste of each of them. From our observation, we can see that some of our sample can super-taste
all of them substances given, while some of them only can taste as regularly. Actually, the ability
to taste is depends on numbers of taste bud of each person. For person which has high number of
taste bud, which in the form of fungiform papillae, they can taste all of the substances stronger
than people which have lower number of those taste buds.
For the station 2 experiment, we can determine that the upper side of our hands is more
sensitive than the lower side hand. Based on our sample result, most of them can answer rightly
when either the coin or pin placed on their upper hand. But their results for the lower hand side is
slightly wrong both trials. So, we can conclude that the nerve is more abundance on the upper

hand than the lower hand. The neural pathway of the spinal cord are involved in this experiment
(two point discrimination) is the reflex arc.
For third station, we are ask to sniff a series of vials of a chemical and alphaandrostenone and try to determine the smell of them. At first, we will smell that substances
without knowing what are the substances prepared. After that, we were inform what are
substances prepared most of the smell cant be determine by our sample at the first time, but on
the second trial, most of them approved their ability to smell all of the substances.
For the hot and cold experiment, our hand will feel hot at the side in ice while hot in the
side of water bath. But, when we put both hand into the water bath which it heat is same as our
skin, our samples hands started to feel benumbed at the side which put into the ice. But, hand
which is put into water bath is only feel like normal. This situation happened because, our body
tried to maintain our body temperature through the homeostasis. Then the other reason why the
hands inside the water bath is feel just like same with the cold water bath because, both of their
temperature only slightly differ from each other. So, their effect is not as much as hand inside the
ice.
For the last station, this is the station for hearing ability. It is the ability to perceive sound
by detecting vibrations via an organ such as the ear. The inability to hear called as the deafness.
In humans and other vertebrates, hearing is performed primarily by the auditory system.
Vibrations are detected by the ear and transuded into nerve impulses that are perceived by the
brain. Like touch, audition requires sensitivity to the movement of molecules in the world
outside the organism. Both hearing and touch are types of mechanosensation. When we put the
tuning fork on one ear, its sound become stronger than on both ear. This is because, when we put
the tube on one of our ear, there is the opening at the end point. But when we put both of the end
point on both of our ear, their sound can easily arrived on our ear as one sound.

Conclusion:
From all of this experiment, we can say that there is a lot of type of human reflex. Some
of them already being investigate. But, there are some of their investigation still cant get the best

reason for their action. This mean some of them still being studied by the scientist. From this
experiment we also can understand that, when our body receives some stimuli it wills response
toward that stimulus. After this experiment, our knowledge about the nervous system become
more increase.

Reference:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflex_arc
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accommodation_reflex
3. http://www.aafp.org/afp/20000115/427.html

TBF 3033
ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY

EXPERIMENT 1

HUMAN REFLEX AND NERVOUS SYSTEM

NAME

MATRIX NO

GROUP

NOR FATIHAH BINTI

D20081032355

MD NOR

LECTURER: DR. SYAKIRAH BINTI SAMSUDIN.