Reflex Study
“Early reflexes and postures are basic developmental patterns. They are integrated, modified and incorporated into more complex patterns in order to form the background for normal, voluntary movement and skills.”
Mary R. Fiorentino
Reflexes can help or hinder us, depending on how and when they show up — either enhancing motor control or disturbing it.
By looking at movement from the perspective of reflexes, we gain insights on the development of coordination, the tolerance of stress and the experience of confidence & anxiety.
Learning to teach movement through reflex patterns has several distinct advantages:
1. Motor learning is faster and easier to generalise when based on innate reflex patterns.
2. Motor learning is more resilient to anxiety because reflexive movement is immune to reinvestment.
3. Reflexes place tissue into an optimal length-tension relationship, lowering injury risk and promoting force transfer.
Reflexes have a psychological and emotional component, where the internal state of an individual affects the strength and coordination of reflexes.
1. Reflexes with a negative valence are amplified by negative emotion and dampened by positive emotions. For example, we startle more strongly when we are already stressed.
2. Self-consciousness strongly affects reflex control. Learning basic mindfulness skills becomes an invaluable tool in improving performance and wellbeing.
3. Visual control plays a significant role in controlling posture and threat responses. Learning to flexibly and skillfully direct the gaze becomes a powerful way of affecting motor control.
Improving reflex control can be done through several approaches:
1. Somatic practices using low intensity or rhythmic movements work by building connections between the spinal highway and higher brain centers. These practices form the sensorimotor pathways to be applied in complex actions.
2. Applied integration uses specific body positions that correspond to reflex patterns. This can be coached to optimise movements, such as the four figure position in sprinting corresponding to the crossed extensor reflex.
3. Designing environments that encourage play and extroversion facilitate the states of mind and emotion that support reflex control. This can be done with design principles from Self-Determination Theory.
Assessing reflex control can be done through isolated tests and by observing motor behaviour across contexts:
1. Isolated tests can reveal if an individual has immature reflex control. This manifests in movements that are “stuck together”, such as extending the left leg when turning the head to the right.
2. Because reflexes build on top of each other, we can use hierarchical assessments to ascertain if an individual needs to integrate the earliest reflexes, which can act as “gateways” to mature motor control.
3. Observing emotional and cognitive habits across contexts reveals where breakdowns occur, such as under performance pressure. These observations are instructive for designing individual tasks.
The Study will take place around mid-2026, given a minimum of ten participants. Please email to show interest.
View the Gravitational Security lecture to learn more.
How scientific is this work?
The scientific study of reflexes was spearheaded in the early 1900’s by Sir Charles Sherrington. With absolute devotion to the work, Sherrington spent over a decade in his laboratory counting individual nerve endings and assessing with gruesome creativity the structure of neurological control in dogs, monkeys and frogs. This empirical work culminated in his theory of Integrative Action, describing how motor control integrates reflexes, sensations and intentions into smooth, unified movement.
In the mid 1900’s, individuals like Moshe Feldenkrais, F.M. Alexander and Berta Bobath attempted to apply the work of Sherrington and others into a therapeutic setting. These methodologies focused on integrating reflexes into voluntary movement to restore function and develop effortless motor control. Whilst some of the hard science these methods are based on is dated, the methods themselves have huge amounts of clinical evidence and more limited scientific evidence to support them.
In the last 30 years, several research based methods have been developed by individuals like Svetlana Masgutova, Sally Blythe and Kokeb McDonald. These are systems for explaining, assessing and developing aspects of reflex maturation, motor development and academic success through play and exercise. These systems are clinically supported, but are limited by large scale scientific study.
Lastly, sports scientist Frans Bosch has applied observations about reflex motor control into his study of athleticism. Bosch uses the language of attractor landscapes and biotensegrity to describe reflexes are universal patterns with unique force production qualities. Reflexes have also been studied in sports science, where researchers observed how early specialisation may cause the breakdown of control in young athletes.
In conclusion, reflexes are challenging to study scientifically because of their context dependent nature. However, clinical practitioners and limited scientific evidence support the notion that reflex maturation affects motor control, emotional wellbeing and academic success, and that interventions can support development.
The lack of large scale scientific study presents a problem of buy-in; how do we fully commit to a practice that is not proven beyond doubt? To see is to believe, and even a surface level study of reflex control presents us with many opportunities to see movement and psychology through a new lens.