[Influence of the neck muscles deafferentation on the natural head-forelimb coordination in dogs].

We studied the influence of the neck muscles deafferentation on the natural head-forelimb coordination. This coordination exists in intact dogs at the early stage of acquisition of the instrumental feeding reaction of tonic forelimb flexion aimed at holding a cup with meat during eating when the head is bent down to foodwell. In untrained dogs, the forelimb flexion is preceded by lifting the head bent down to the food; the following lowering of the head leads to extension of the flexed forelimb. For performing the instrumental reaction, the innate coordination has to be rearranged into the opposite one. It is achieved only by learning. It was shown that deafferentation of the neck muscles, which leads to a loss of the neck reflex, did not destroy the innate coordination and did not facilitate its rearrangement during the instrumental conditioning.