Describe the various survival and primitive reflexes present at birth. Discuss the value of the survival and primitive reflexes and their impact on development

What will be an ideal response?

Reflexes are involuntary and automatic responses to a stimulus. Survival reflexes are those that are thought to have adaptive value, and they include the rooting reflex (turning in response to touch on the cheek), the sucking reflex, breathing and eye-blinking reflexes, etc. These reflexes help the infant satisfy survival needs, but they also appear to have an impact on caregivers, by helping promote affection in them so as to ensure adequate caregiving. Primitive reflexes appear to be less useful remnants of our evolutionary history. They disappear shortly after birth, and this change is thought to represent the progress of brain development. As higher regions of the brain begin to direct behavior, primitive reflexes, which are governed by the subcortical regions, begin to disappear.