#2: Spinal Cord and Reflexes -- Coca-Cola Commercial

On July 19, 2008 at 7:00 in the evening, I saw a Coca-Cola commercial in the movie theater relating to the spinal cord and reflexes. A man was pulling up to a drive-through window after he had ordered a large Coke. He realized that he had parked too far away from the window. He had embarrassing bedroom slippers on his feet, so he would not get out of the car to receive the Coke from the waiting employee. Instead, desperate to have the Coke, he leaned as far out of his window as he could without exposing his feet. The employee stretched out her arm to his, and with a look of worry on their faces, she cautiously dropped the large Coke to his waiting hand underneath hers. He barely caught it and they were relieved.

This commercial relates to the spinal cord and reflexes we learned about in chapter two on biology and behavior. The spinal cord receives signals from the body's senses and sends them to the brain. It then transports messages from the brain to the muscles. The spinal cord directs the simple behaviors of reflexes. His senses told his brain that he wanted the Coke. Then his brain told his muscles to catch it at the right time. It is good that his reflexes were quick enough! The commercial reminded me of the difficult dollar bill exercise we did in class where one person had to catch a falling dollar from another person's hand.