Reflexes Do Not Wait for Consciousness: Reflex Systems and the Body Schema (The Kuriyama Protocol, Chapter 8)
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Part 13 of a series; the eighth of fifteen chapter-by-chapter articles. Part 1: 10.5281/zenodo.23587879 · Part 2: 10.5281/zenodo.23587670 · Part 3 (v2): 10.5281/zenodo.23723510 · Part 4: 10.5281/zenodo.23609857 · Part 5: 10.5281/zenodo.23610607 · Part 6: 10.5281/zenodo.23682055 · Part 7: 10.5281/zenodo.23684537 · Part 8: 10.5281/zenodo.23684996 · Part 9: 10.5281/zenodo.23685960 · Part 10: 10.5281/zenodo.23686289 · Part 11: 10.5281/zenodo.23720048 · Part 12: 10.5281/zenodo.23723725 Chapter 8 of The Kuriyama Protocol describes the layer that interrupts ongoing control. Reflexes act before consciousness; three layers compete for the same muscles with priority reflex > procedural pattern > conscious movement, which fixes the order of instruction. Because nerves can only command contraction, generalized arousal converges on flexion, adduction and internal rotation, now grounded in the wiring of withdrawal and startle responses after two earlier retractions. Baseline tone is set by autonomic state and conditions, not instruction. Pupil size can change only by changing internal state (ambient light must be controlled when reading it). Internal models update in proportion to detected error × gate. The body schema is plastic, and perceived limb weight changes without physical change, consistent with altered perceived body size after anaesthesia or cutaneous stimulation (Gandevia & Phegan, 1999). Four gaps found while writing, not stated in the book: - The field example of the stretch reflex (knee flexion urge on dorsiflexion during a forward bend) may instead reflect passive tension of the biarticular gastrocnemius and neural tension; the stretch reflex is velocity-dependent. - Avoidance persisting after pain resolves was placed in the reflex layer; it is better treated as learned (fear-avoidance), a closed gate in which avoided movement never produces the updating error, and therefore rewritable by graded exposure. - "Habitual slouchers show a sustained flexion reflex" was not distinguished from passive hanging (flexion relaxation in slumped sitting; Callaghan & Dunk, 2002). - Unchanged limb weight was described as recorded, but the source is the instructor's explanation, not a measurement. Five falsifiable predictions are registered (numbered 57–61, continuing the series): - P57. During slow dorsiflexion in a forward bend, knee-flexion force appears with near-silent gastrocnemius EMG. - P58. Residual gait asymmetry after recovery correlates more with pain-related fear than with current pain, and declines with graded exposure. - P59. Habitual slouchers split into co-contracting and passive-hanging types, each responding to a different intervention. - P60. Maximal fist clenching during single-leg stance increases ankle and knee co-contraction and centre-of-pressure velocity. - P61. After blinded cutaneous stimulation of one shank, the stimulated leg is reported lighter above chance, more so with higher plantar thresholds. Refutations are welcome. The author has no formal research training. Corrections will be issued as new versions, with earlier versions kept retrievable. The article body is in Japanese. An English summary, the registered predictions and the reference list are included in the document. Contact: [email protected]
Author: KURIYAMA, CHIAKI
Language: English
Topic: Motor Control and Adaptation
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225006675