[Biomechanical characteristics of the wiping reflex cycle]

Multijoint goal-directed hindlimb movements in response to chemical stimulation delivered to different skin sites on the medial back surface (wiping reflex-WR) were filmed and analysed in spinal or intact frogs Rana temporaria. Each WR cycle was divisible into five phases (flexion, lifting, aiming, wiping and extension) usually separated from each other by postural interruptions. One or several of the phases might spontaneously be reduced or deleted at all (e. g. the extension phase), although the WR was still effective. Such a reduction was, as a rule, observed in intact frogs while spinal ones usually exhibited the maximum phase sequence. It is suggested that the central spinal generator of the WR is formed of separate functional blocks each of which specifies a certain interjoint coordination and brings the joints to the central-conditioned equilibrium positions.