A reflex, often called a reflex arc, is an automatic response to a stimulus. If you touched a hot stove or a fire, you’d automatically withdraw your hand. Even though you don’t voluntarily control it, that reflex is controlled by your somatic nervous system. Somatic reflexes are the one involuntary action that the somatic nervous system controls. If you’ve ever had a reflex, you know that they happen quickly. It might feel like you don’t even have to think about doing it. In fact, you don’t. Part of the reason why you react so fast is because the impulse doesn’t go to your brain. The sensory information passes to the spinal cord and back to the hand, or whatever body part needs to react, without first passing onto the brain.
Somatic reflexes
A
are voluntary responses to stimulus.
B
don’t require a message from the brain.
C
pass sensory information directly to the brain.
D
are controlled by the autonomic nervous system.