Righting reflex

The righting reflex, also known as the labyrinthine righting reflex, or the Cervico-collic reflex; is a reflex that corrects the orientation of the body when it is taken out of its normal upright position. It is initiated by the vestibular system, which detects that the body is not erect and causes the head to move back into position as the rest of the body follows. The perception of head movement involves the body sensing linear acceleration or the force of gravity through the otoliths, and angular acceleration through the semicircular canals. The reflex uses a combination of visual system inputs, vestibular inputs, and somatosensory inputs to make postural adjustments when the body becomes displaced from its normal vertical position. These inputs are used to create what is called an efference copy. This means that the brain makes comparisons in the cerebellum between expected posture and perceived posture, and corrects for the difference. The reflex takes 6 or 7 weeks to perfect, but can be affected by various types of balance disorders.^[1]

The righting reflex has also been studied in cats and other non-human mammals.

^ Wazen, Jack J.; Mitchell, Deborah R. (2004). Dizzy: what you need to know about managing and treating balance disorder. New York: Simon Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-3622-5. OCLC 52858223.

[Wazen_2004-1] Wazen, Jack J.; Mitchell, Deborah R. (2004). Dizzy: what you need to know about managing and treating balance disorder. New York: Simon Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-3622-5. OCLC 52858223.

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