Answer: You are sitting at a Mexican restaurant waiting for your food. The waiter brings a very hot plate, telling you to be careful about touching it. You touch it anyway, producing a pain sensation in your fingers, a withdrawal of your hand, and an auditory comment of what you are thinking. This scenario represents an involuntary act on the neuronal circuit.
Explanation:
The neurons of an organism form numerous circuits that originate very complex networks. The nervous current that circulates through them produces two types of acts:
They are fast, automatic, and are performed without the action of the brain. In a reflex act, sensitive information only reaches the spinal cord, so the response is automatic. They are the ones that are performed when a quick response is needed.
They are varied, changing, and more elaborated. Voluntary acts are carried out in a conscious way and are controlled voluntarily. Not all are a consequence of the reception of an external stimulus, since they can be produced directly in the cerebral cortex without the need for an external stimulus.
